Lee.org

You should backup all your data. I know that’s what I’m doing at this moment, after reading these stories of woe on engadget.

I was going to quote all of the horrible stories for you until I realized that it was almost 800 kilobytes of stories. 582 entries in total. A lot of folks apparently used the writing experience as catharsis.

So I’ll just give you a couple of the best ones and you can get the whole thing in this RAR archive.

Check below the cut…
(more…)

Health insurance for an individual is, as we all know, quite expensive. About 6 months ago, I did some hunting around to try and find health insurance for my self. Here’s what I found. I live in NJ so some of this advice might not be appropriate for you.

I’d get a great break on insurance if I had a company with just other employee (must work at least 25 hrs a week or so)

NJ Blue Cross Blue Shield (the “official” provider for NJ..) is freaking expensive. They wanted to charge me $650/month for moderately good insurance.

The IEEE has a good insurance program. You’ve got to be a member for 2 years before being eligible… Since membership is $100/year and it would save me $150/month in insurance, I immediately joined. I’m still waiting for my membership to mature though.

You want to be in a group. 1 person obviously gets more sick, more often than that same person as long as he’s paired up with someone. Hurumph.

NJ law makes it so that I can’t get cheap but crappy insurance. Instead, I must get good, expensive insurance… well, expensive at the least. This differs from many states. I noted that you can get things like $10,000 deductible insurance in California for $90/month

Don’t be afraid to get phone numbers and call on the phone. I sometimes got more done in a 20 minute phone call than an hour browsing confusing medical insurance websites.

I eventually ended up going with a trusted client’s recommendation. I get my Health insurance from Medical Insurance Claims Inc. of Kinnelon NJ. I pay about $370/month for a good Oxford plan… $30 copays, RX paid 1/2.

Here’s some links I collected. They may or may not be useful or still valid:

http://www.workingtoday.org/resources/insurancebenefits.php
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http://www.workingtoday.org/productsservices/products.php
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http://www.asmeinsurance.com/
I have to be a member for 2 years first.
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ACM.org Association for Computing Machinery. $99/year
- Professional Liability Insurance - about $1800/year
- Major Medical - blue shield of NJ 212-476-1111
- Catastrophe Major Medical Insurance - no
- Disability Income - yes
- Auto - 1-800-524-9400 www.libertymutual.com/lm/acm
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Marsh Affinity Group Services 1-800-503-9230 http://www.seaburychicago.com/cwp.asp?assn=ACM
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IEEE computer society - http://www.computer.org/
$95/year to join IEEE and Computer Society as a professional (partial year)
- Comprehensive HealthCare Insurance - must be in IEEE for 2 years. 1-877-886-0110
- Disability Income - 20 units of $130/month, 90 day waiting period: $216/year
- Professional Liability - through Marsh Affinity Group
- Discount Prescription Plan
- msa plan
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Blue Cross of NJ (crappy insurance)
http://www.horizon-bcbsnj.com/members_rates.asp?urlsection=members
Plan: Plan A/50
Effective Date: 4/2004
Deductible: $10,000.00
50% coinsurance
$5,000 coinsurance cap
Monthly Rate: $242.52
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http://www.nationalbusiness.org/
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Small business something or another http://www.nfib.com (but not in NJ)
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insurance quotes at: http://www.ehealthinsurance.com
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http://www.keystonetosuccess.com/
What the frig is is? Just a discount plan? I was referred to this by http://www.nationalbusiness.org/NBAWEB/Premium3600/NBAcontact.htm
Ah… It’s a pharmacy discount
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Nationwide Health Plans–NFIB Ohio
1-800-551-4312, option 4 < — Call
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update 8-1-05 Good to know: When you get your insurance, use a company that provides a real live human being at your service. When something goes awry and you are battling the insurance provider, it will be good to have an agent that knows all of the loopholes and such.

I am right now in the process of getting health insurance in California. It is amazing, I can get very similar insurance in California for $170 that I would’ve paid $370 for in New Jersey. I am going to opt for a less inclusive $100 per month plan. A 70% discount!

I just saw the “Oona Wentworth” episode of Nip/Tuck.

I literally knew I was done being sick when I realized that I was feeing the full creepiness and disgustingtude of this show. Bravo to everyone who made this masterpiece of …. of…. whatever the heck it is. It’s really on it’s own out there. Nip/Tuck is a great show but I can’t tivo through two episodes…. I need to recover and digest and finally remind myself,”Well, at least I’m not as bad off as that!”

A friend is having trouble deciding whether or not to go to her 10 year college reuinion. She said that she didn’t have any friends in her class year and wasn’t pleased with her career path. Here’s my comment back to her

Last year, I went to a reunion of a middle school group… it was terrific. I’m so glad I went. I was initially bothered that careerwise, I was just starting a tiny little business while the other people were… let’s see, working for the US Patent Office, a Washington lawyer, making computers understand speech, teaching high-level math in college, “on a break” from working at the U.N. and other worldly pursuits. But they saw my situation differently. They saw me as independent and gutsy. And we all had a good time talking about the various paths we’ve taken. Most important was that being with these really old friends was touching an important part of my past. That felt really good.

So, as far as your 10 year reunion… If there’s no one you’d care to see, then don’t go. You’ll just get that many more mailers from the school, begging for money for a new building or something; whatever it is, it won’t make any personal connection. That’s what’s important.

WP Paginate from Scriptygoddess because my beloved Page Navigation doesn’t work with WP 1.5.

Dumb AI still makes me mad.

Welcome to Earthlink LiveChat. Your chat session will begin shortly.

Not at home and you want to read your email? With EarthLink Web Mail you can check your email from any computer with an internet connection!

‘Sherman N.’ says: Thank you for contacting EarthLink LiveChat, how may I help you today?
me: Hi, I have a mindspring dialup account. I’m trying to access my mail from another computer but my username and password don’t seem to work. Could it be that I’m not allowed to access POP mail via the internet?
Sherman N.: I understand that you wish to know your password. I can help by providing the password after veryfying your account.
Sherman N.: I see that you have provided xxx as account verification information, Is this your Internet login password?. If yes, can I have your permission to view the password in our database. You will receive an email regarding password view.ace=”arial” size=”2″>
me: No, I don’t need to know my password. I have my password. Please turn off that crummy artificial intelligence system and re-read my request.
Sherman N.: To best assist you, you need to speak with a Technical Support Representative. Please stand by while I transfer you.
Please wait while I transfer the chat to the best suited site operator.
‘Joshua G’ says: Thank you for contacting EarthLink LiveChat, how may I help you today?
[There was a 15 second pause here that really got me bothered. I thought that I was going to have to repeat what I said to a MACHINE to a human. I was about to copy and paste my previous correspondence when.....]
Joshua G: =”black”>=”OperatorText”>Hello, I see you’ve already been chatting. Please give me a moment so I can read the previous chat and pick up where you left off.
me: Let me take this opportunity to say that "Sherman N" is a crappy AI.

…

Eliza… Eliza…. My heart’s on fire…… for Eliza!

I haven’t tried it yet but others say it works. Windows is playing a little catch-up here… Unix had symbolic links in 1973 and it’s not a clever hack… it just works. Junction Link Magic

Hard links too with NTFS Hardlink Shellextention.

My trip to the bay area went very well. I got to meet up with a great variety of people, see a lot of the sights and get a real feel for the place. Since there’s so much to say, I’ll just spit this all out in no real order (if you want a good story, go buy a book… this is my life and my life is a mess)

I may add more to this later so check back…

The North-eastern corner of Lake Merritt in Oakland had a really really nice vibe. S.H. took me there and I couldn’t get the grin off my face at how nice it was there.

My brain was agape when Geo rattled off more than 10 organizations in the Bay Area devoted to cool things like fire and industrial arts. The best example I know if is The Crucible but it is certainly not the only one.

I’m amazed at how much the area from Santa Cruz to San Francisco is ruled by geography. In NJ, you can plop down a house or strip mall pretty much wherever you want but in San Fran… for example, hardly anyone lives in Fremont because it’s mostly wetland or steep hills. People try to live on the sides of mountains that, frankly they shouldn’t try to live on, especially considering the prevalence of earthquakes. But there are limits to even aggressive building practices… many structures are very close to large beautiful forests, mountains, oceans and the like. It’s an odd but fairly satisfying mix. Drive an hour in any direction and you’re among real nature. From my house now, if you drive an hour, you’re in either a city, suburbs, or sub-suburbs (east, south, north or west)

Housing is expensive… Mostly a bit more than Brooklyn. Expect to buy for $500,000 per bedroom. 1 BR $1,000+, 2BR $1500+, 3 BR $2000+. Bargains below this ($700-9000) can be had in various housemate situations.

Some people think Computer Guy would do great in the area, some people are…. not so sure. I’m not so sure. :-(

My hosts were all great. A big thank you to S.H., Tree, Brillig, G,

This is just a little ping to say that I’m doing well. I’ve visited Berkely and Oakland with S.H. Very good vibe. She asked me why I was going to Grass Valley. “Because 3 friends have told me that it’s a place to check out if I want that “hippier” feel.” She wasn’t sure but doubted that ascertion so we walked into a bookstore and I had to pick up 4 CA travel guides before I found even a mention of Grass Valley. And that was more of a blurb than a listing. Aparently, Grass Valley’s claim to fame is some woman who (if I remember correctly from Fodor’s guide) entertained the gold miners in 1850 with her Spider Dance. She wasn’t a particularly good dancer, but she was very well known. Fodors listed 2 places to eat and one place to visit. At that, S.H. and I simultaneously, in harmony, said, “What the hell were they thinking?”

I’m in Santa Cruz right now and I keep reading in the papers how the whole area gets wiped off the map every couple decades… and they’re pretty much due for another disaster soon.

MetroSantaCruz, Feb 23rd, 2005

Naturally, because the odds are against us. The sexy strip of land we call downtown is part of the natural floodplain of the San Lorenzo River–witness that this is the 50th anniversary of the 1955 flood that devastated downtown. The soil here is subject to liquefaction in an earthquake, and if there ever was a major tsunami on the West Coast (soothing experts say it’s is extremely unlikely), well, the downtown is right in the tsunami run-up area. If we were golfers, we’d call the spot where downtown Santa Cruz landed a bad lie.

“I keep looking over my shoulder for the locusts,” says John Lisher, owner of Artisan’s Gallery. Lisher was one of the many merchants who owned businesses on Pacific Avenue when the Loma Prieta earthquake destroyed the downtown on Oct. 17, 1989.

Good Times weekly (speaking about Santa Cruz…)

…That’s the typical California cycle – flood, drought, wildfire, and flood with landslides…

It’s very pretty here, but doesn’t have the peppy vibe I’m looking for.

I’m liking Berkeley and Oakland.

More later.

Tuesday Feb 22nd - Arrive SFO at 8:40pm
Tues - Oakland with S.H.
Wed - Meet T in San Jose, continue w/ to Boulder Creek
Thurs - check out Santa Cruz, San Jose
Fri - Check out Grass Valley. Unstructured.
Sat - Check out Grass Valley. Unstructured.
Sun - Oakland with B.
Mon - Pacifica with G.
Tues - Berkeley with J.?
Wednesday March 2nd - Leave SFO at 11:15am. Arrive EWR at 7:40pm

Is it a vacation?
Is it trying to run away?
Is it dumb?
Is it a violation of family trust?
Tough. I’m going.