Couch 67 - Keep calm, carry on, and have a cup of tea.

I actually am disqualified/exempt from ever even being called for duty because of a stupid psych dx on my record. I disagree with the dx, but I don't mind that I never have to go to jury duty. I think I am also disqualified from ever giving expert testimony again too...but I don't mind that either. I will still have to go to court if I screw up or get screwed up though...lol.

Do you know that my H has been writing in POSTPONE on every jd summons for the past 6 yrs and they haven't caught him yet? I keep telling him he is going to get caught.

He actually has had to testify as an expert witness a few times too...since he is the county director of IT. He had to testify at a murder trial because the time was off on the computers that logged in a 911 call. Weird crap like that.

I need to make 99 posts so I can hit the cherished 10,000 post count.

ooh, oops, sorry 98

oh helz, I meant to say 97

Morning all. Really dragging this morning. Our closet shelf and pole collapsed yesterday, so I ran to the hardware store between T and court hearings.

Then, as I was leaving work, my D called me and said the physics project she and a friend (and the friends' parents) had built just totally failed during the testing. Rather than fail them on the assignment, the teacher said she and the friend could do a new project (or fix this one) by Thursday. This project isn't fixable, and the friends' parents said it was our turn to help (not in a mean way). Anyway, the teacher says no 'kits' for the projectile project and looking at the specs for the project, there is no way to build anything that will work for the project without using power tools.

BTW, does anyone else think it's unreasonable to assign a project that requires power tools without giving the kids any training in using power tools or making sure that the parents involved HAVE power tools?

Anyway, D is pretty klutzy and afraid of power tools, so the building actually fell to me. H doesn't use tools and doesn't like having them in the house, so despite my arguments, he moved them to the garage but couldn't remember where they were. When I found what I needed, the saw blade had rusted badly so I needed a new one. The dremel was missing a bunch of parts. The drill's battery packs will no longer hold a charge. I'm sure that's age, but I was angry and blaming it on being out in the cold so it was all H's fault. LOL.

Anyway, I ended up making a trip to Lowe's in my workout clothes, buying dremel blades, saw blades, and a new drill. I spent almost $200 and 4 hours to build a 6 X 12 X 12 catapult that is crooked. The crooked part is driving me INSANE, but without a table saw, it was impossible to get the precision cuts I wanted.

wow mkac...that DOES sound really unreasonable. My kids went to a technical high school, but even they didn't have to do stuff like that. My d "shadowed" in carpentry shop her freshman year (while deciding what she wanted to do) and had to make a box with a hinged lid. She loved that all the senior guys were falling all over themselves helping her. lol.

My H has every power tool imaginable, but my S doesn't know how to use a single one.

I had to read this a couple of times to understand that you weren't talking about liquor stores at airports

Wow MKAC... and I was complaining in my head that I had to help my son make a "baby book" scrap book of his development.... for his AP Psych class

Jersey.... your T sounds so great and supportive and dare i even say Sweet.

She really is.

MKAC..it's really impressive that you pulled that together so quickly!!!!! Awesome.

But it's CROOKED!!!!

This is what I tried to build, but putting the uprights on was insanely hard and the whole thing lists slightly to the right:

How to build a catapult

I am glad that it helped you to feel better Jerz..

Warm and gushy. lol Wiki points for making SD ack.

MKAC....my son was an avid bowler in his younger days. He listed to the right badly, but they taught him how to line up to "use" the list for his benefit. He's got a zillion huge trophies to prove listing isn't always a bad thing.

Geek-gasm / nerd-gasm time:

That's going on my carol list.

The last time I went to jury duty, I had to approach the judge twice....one to disclose something really personal to answer a question he asked....and the second time, to answer a question which resulted in me bursting out in tears. I was then "excused" for being mentally incapable or something like that.

Things are SO hard right now. My neurologist is cancelling insurance altogether. I have an appt on Tuesday and went to his office to pick up a script for my botox which my insurance typically does not accept. After being on the phone with them for an hour or so yesterday, they said they would cover it because of the medical condition it's being used for - yippeeeee - as long as the dr calls for prior authorization. I figured I'd get one more treatment in before having to deal with trying to find a new dr.

Well, when I stopped by my dr's office, they informed me that the date of discontinuation for my insurance wasn't at the end of the year - it was yesterday.. GAH.

There was a form that needed to be filled out if I wanted to get a short term continuation of my coverage for 4 months - which should've been done in October. If approved, I MIGHT be able to get two more appts. in for treatment before I am on my own.

So....anyway, I now have a script for the botox which costs $1,000 and I'm not sure if my insurance will cover it because the forms won't be processed by then....and my dr will call to get prior authorization - but since he's no longer a dr under my insurance, my insurance won't cover it anyway because they don't cover anything out-of-network. And just the office visit for my neurologist is $350.

So, unless some miracle happens and everything lines up, my appt on Tues will cost me about $1400. I haven't paid T since the end of August - and I am working up the calculations so I can give him a check tomorrow - and it's about $1500....

And so far, over the last two weeks, I've worked enough to pay 1/2 of my mortgage....and my ongoing assignments are ending next week...

I am in total freak out mode....I just want to cry.

The case I was being selected for was a civil auto law suit so lots of people had to approach the judge and the two attorneys in side bar.... but most were discussing auto accidents or who in their family has medical expertise...

In a criminal trial I 'm sure for some of us those type of questions could get really personal and really upsetting depending on the nature of the crime....

Hi guys,
nice to see a new couch

MUE.... I'm sorry things are so tough right now... it doesn't help to not be feeling well and dealing with all of this red tape. Did you get a list of neurologist that take your insurance? Would your current one be able to help you get in sooner with a new one or recommend the new one?

Hi Healing Times! Good to see you.