Comic for Thursday, July 12th, 2007

Posted: 7:00 am, Thursday, July 12th

I just now realized that I left in the line "actually, it's probably still dark" on yesterday's post, thereby tipping my hand that I had written that the night before. Good reason for that - slept right through my alarm yesterday and woke up at five instead of twenty of, and basically jumped out of bed and shoved 2.0 into the car. Driving around New York at five in the morning on a Wednesday is actually a lot of fun - the West Side Highway was absolutely vacant, and it took us only twenty-two minutes to get from Windsor Terrace to Columbia-Presbyterian. Where we then got to wait around for a few hours 'til 2.0's six AM surgery took place at like eight forty-five or so.

2.0's whole experience (of getting a lump removed from her arm, since I haven't mentioned that in full) is kind of a massive fucking indictment of ye olde health care "system" in America. (Note to self: Self, you still need to see Sicko.)(Between being sick on Monday, being stuck at the office late on Tuesday and hangin' at the hospital yesterday, I kind of missed out on Michael Moore's kicking Wolf Blitzer's ass the other night. Fun stuff!) So the doctors tell 2.0 to get an EKG and some x-rays and whatever else (if I forgot something, babe, pipe up). So for the last week and a half, two weeks, 2.0's been running from hospital to PCP to wherever, getting all these procedures done. NONE of these various places succeeded in getting this crap to the hospital. The hospital decided, "Eh," and went ahead without any of it. So it was all a big waste. The first problem here is that 2.0 was getting absolutely zero help from any of the support staff at these various places - she actually let the phone ring on the x-ray tech forty times before they finally blinked and picked up. I forget the other story (I've been up way too long at this point), but it was something to the nature of the desk person at one office telling her that they had no contact cards, in front of the doctor, and the doctor disgustedly having to write the info out himself, before the desk person started trying to play it off like a joke. So, and this isn't necessarily an indictment of the whole system, but there's obviously a lot of shite staffers out there. But more the problem is all these freaking procedures that 2.0 was told to have done are all paid for by my insurance. And were evidently not needed. I'm not going to pretend to know anything about medicine (luckily, there is a medical professional in the room, as part of the massive Five Bucks to Friday Peanut Gallery Knowledge Base), and I'm sure these procedures were not actually *completely* superfluous, but basically they all went to waste. Argh, it just drives me nuts.

Also, the traffic back at ten in the morning sucks a whole lot more than the drive at five.

Also also, 2.0's doctor was super nice. So not everything sucks.

On the other hand, I'm listening to Mike Frank's Irish Eyes Power Hour right now, and ND's five-star DE commit Ethan Johnson was just on. Awesome quote about why he didn't choose USC: "They don't graduate as many football players as I'd like to see." God, I just love shit like that. I'm more jazzed about the high school seniors we're recruiting right now than I am the 2007 squad (which will be the first team since Lou's 6-5-1 '94 squad that I will not witness live even once, evidently).

Shit, my life is a Gil Thorp comic. (Also, don't mess the Ziggy panel below it.)

bullfrog

2.0 -- Thursday, July 12 2007, 07:18 am

Actually everyone was super nice at New York Presbyterian. There was even Notre Dame doctor in the house (made obvious by his ND do-rag and key lanyard). Jeremiah tells me two piece of ND flair= Alumni.

He (his name was Dr. Prince) won the lottery this year--forgive me for fogetting which game it was--though I do know it was a home game. This conversation took place moments before the room went all smeary on me. So, ladies of ND, if you are looking for some tickets, and a date, Dr. Prince might be your man.

New iPhone in panel 4? Frog spares no attention to detail.

Yeah, I didn't mean to include New York-Presbyterian in my spray there. They ran a tight ship. Although their official name seems to be "NewYork-Presbyterian," which is confusing to me.

http://www.nyp.org/

And, yes, new iPhone in panel 4. (Had to explain where Adam was while the ladies were freely discussing Jen's skullduggery.)

By the way, I can read either the Golden Compass next or Island in the Center of the World - recommendations? I'm leaning toward Golden Compass because I've got more faith I can finish that in a week, since the world stops at midnight next Friday.

Regarding Reseda... My 512mb imitation iPod has not been refreshed in a very, very long time, and I must say: Soul Coughing is the only stuff on there that isn't getting excruciatingly old.

"The Darkness" - Novel, fun. Gets old VERY quickly.

If the civilian medical system is bad, I submit from experience that the veteran's affairs medical system is not better. So much medical red-tape my father has to go through to see a VA doctor about his cancer remission, every single time! (*raised fist*) It doesn't seem right!

Anyway, was led to a website of an Bravarian inn and bar on Staten Island: http://www.killmeyers.com/ Have you been there? Any good? (The whole pig roasts on Sunday sounds really good, if you're into eating whole pigs. Oh, and apparently you can order beer by the liter or keg. Just what Ron needs.)

If it's on Staten and it's not a toll booth or the starting point of the marathon, I've never been. That does sound awesome, though.

I listened to the Darkness CD recently - it wears thin if you listen to it a lot in a row, but if you give it a break and revisit it after a while, it actually comes back pretty strong. It really feels like I should be rollerskating to it in the elementary school gym.

The issue with all of the poor support staff is that they are way underpaid. As a person who used to do that job, I know how easy it is to not give 100%. The problem is, you're dealing with people's health, not their fast food order.

World stops at midnight next friday? I thought you two weren't going to get the book until the next day?

Also, have you seen Harry Potter 5 yet, you slackers? I really loved it actually, they did a terrific job. It seemed like more dialogue was pulled directly from the book this time, which was a huge bonus, too.

I pick the Dark Materials books, even though I hated it. It will make the week go faster, I bet!

2.0 was doped up on anesthesia all day yesterday, dude! It would've been a waste of ten bucks to drag her to the Pavilion!

Yeah, I probably would have thrown up in the theater. We're gonna go tomorrow.

Excuses, excuses. I thought you guys were hardcore...

Actually the anesthesia thing occurred to me right after I posted. Huge "duh" moment.

God, next year's ND schedule blows.

Awesome.

http://www.slate.com/id/2170269/nav/tap3/

I know it's tradition and all, but would it kill ND not to play the military schools for one year?

Hey Jeremiah, just a note. (I'm the Witchthorn guy BTW, and a big fan of FBTF). They do all these tests because their liability insurance demands it, so if something goes wrong they have a paper trail to say, look, we did indeed check for this. (As per my own MD). Also, I was in the hospital in 2003 for major surgery and had great care; everyone could not have been nicer. This was Lenox Hill FWIW. So I guess it's just a matter of when and where, rather than an indictment of the entire system. The one thing that bugged me no end, though, was when they woke me up at 2AM to make me take an Ambien... so I could sleep.

Alright, the liability bit makes sense to me. Hadn't managed to think of that when going off last night. Good call.

Well, we're probably done with Air Force after this series expires, because the MWC has a thing with CSTV for all home games, and ND will not be down with not being on major TV for another game. And Army's a shambles, so it'll probably be a while before they come up again. But Navy's here to stay - especially when they basically allow us to dictate where their "home games" are. In the past ten years, we've played them in DC, Orlando, Baltimore twice, and the Meadowlands. And in 2012, we're playing them in Dublin. That flexibility, coupled with a 43-game win streak against them, keeps the Middies on the schedule.

Uh oh:

http://eater.com/archives/2007/07/breaking_magnol.php

Wow, there is some hatred for Magnolia's in the comments there.

I'd like to chime in that those precedures are probably required in order for the surgeon to receive reimbursement, and the reason they're required is to make sure the patient is in stable condition to have the procedure. The sad part is, that as long as the reports get into 2.0's chart eventually, the fact that her surgeon will see them AFTER THE PROCEDURE WAS DONE will not make a bit of difference to the insurer. P.S. Animated Ron--I liked the homage to Stonehenge. I don't have sound at my work PC, so it seemed somewhat alarming, all those Rons abandoning themselves to some mysterious and disturbing force. I'm sure I'm missing some critical element or reference. Nice work, though! Do some more!

Fuck yeah Slate link.

Wow, CNN really got pwn3d. I just wish people would stop referring to the "MSM" and instead denote it via the more accurate "Televised Media". We do have to give Wolf Blitzer credit though: had that been The O'Reilly Factor or Hannity and Colmes, there's no question at all that anyone criticizing the network in a similar way would have their feed cut.

I do wish that the left's most vocal (even if often jingoistic) voice weren't emanating from such a physically hideous man. We live in a shallow society, after all.

Yeah, Michael Moore's really let himself go. I saw him speak the day Stupid White Men came out in '02, and he looks about 50 pounds heavier and fifteen years older these days.