Things that annoyed me this week

by Sandy L on November 24, 2010

I’ve been having computer issues this week, which has inspired this rant-like post.  If you don’t like listening to people complain, you can skip this post altogether.

Here are some things that have annoyed me this week:

Electronics

I’m irritated that wireless routers only seem to last 2-3 years before they are on the fritz. I just bought my 3rd or 4th one, I’ve lost count. It also bugs me that it takes months to figure out that it is the router that’s causing me all the headaches because the deterioration of signal is very slow. I finally figured it out when I couldn’t stay connected for more than 5 seconds.

Software

So we get the new router and suddenly my 5 month old laptop can’t see the signal anymore but our other computers are working fine. After my husband spent about 6 hours troubleshooting the problem thinking it might be the new router or wireless card, he finally finds out that there is a microsoft wireless software loaded on my laptop that is causing the issue. He finds a forum where everyone with my computer is complaining about it. The fix? Well come to find out, this stupid software is useless, so all you have to do to solve your problem is disable it.

Blogs

I hate pop ups asking me to sign up for someones email or newsletter…most especially when I’m already a reader and subscriber of their blog.

Healthcare

Why is it that the billing departments at all doctors are so completely inept? I’m still receiving bills from my son’s surgery from 3 years ago, after umpteen appeals and umpteen approvals. Oh and the billing office for my doctor is only open between 3-5 and when I called at 4:10 the other day, the person already left for the day and the secretary wouldn’t take a message and told me to call back another day.

Actually, it’s not totally their fault, it’s also Blue Cross denying things that should be covered. They didn’t cover the surgery because the doctor used the wrong billing code (first thing fixed). Then they said I didn’t get the right prior authorization to do some thing that was part of the procedures (even though I called before the surgery and was told I needed no prior authorization to perform the surgery).  I think this time they denied paying for the anesthesia or something associated with the procedure but not the procedure itself.  That took a million calls to fix. Lastly, the doctor was out of network and this is the latest thing I’m fighting. I also thought that when I was calling around beforehand, I got that exception approved too. As it is, this doctor was an hour away and the closest qualified person to do the surgery. Sorry, but  for the money I’m paying I shouldn’t be expected to drive 2+ hours to visit an in-network specialist.  They had no record of those conversations, so I had to file yet another appeal which was yet again approved.

No wonder healthcare is so expensive. I would love to take a job to streamline some of these processes. They are just so screwed up.

I also have a dentist bill that is still in limbo from when I switched insurance numbers over a year ago.

Stimulus Spending

Okay, my town must have way too much money because they are putting extra stop signs and traffic lights in the most random of places.

My Husband Being Right

Okay, this didn’t really annoy me, but although I’m stubborn, I have to give credit where it’s due.  This week, we rented a dumpster and are gutting two upstairs rooms at my mom’s house. I actually have done very little work this time around aside from some cleanup and prep.  Babci’s house is over 100 years old and the plaster isn’t even connected to the lathe anymore. The only thing holding it on the wall is the wallpaper. It’s not insulated properly, the wiring is a gagillion years old and the lights have no switches (pull string), radiators need work, the bathrooms moldy and rotted.  In fact, when we took down the bathroom walls, the walls weren’t even connected to the ceiling. They were just kind of floating there and you could wobble them around. Nuts.

Anyway, as we were debating our plan of attack, I thought that since Babci is already 77, that we should get the first floor totally done so that when she gets to the place where she can’t climb stairs anymore, she has a nice little apartment with a remodeled bedroom, bath and kitchen all ready to go.  He had the opposite theory, start at the top and work your way down.  Last weekend as the bathroom was being gutted a water leak sprung and started raining into the downstairs kitchen. I then realized that working from the top down makes more sense and admitted the error of my ways.  Once the upstairs is done, I don’t have to worry about it impacting the downstairs rooms.

Thanksgiving

Not really much to rant about here.  I am really looking forward to a long weekend of cooking and eating and hanging with family.  I love this time of year, so I’ll end on a happy note.

I now realize my silly ranting is really sounds very elitist scum to me. I am thankful that my family can get the medical care they need and that I can afford insurance (expensive or not).  Babci had siblings that died as children from illnesses. Wow, I’m so glad I can bring my kids to hospitals and specialists if I need to. How would I have gotten that screw out of my son’s nose otherwise?

Computer problems? In all honesty, computers are a luxury. Do I really need all the electronic gizmos in my house? No. In fact, the week I was having all my computer issues, I actually worked out again.  That in itself was a good lesson.  It’s good to unplug and go back to the basics of living.

Have a great holiday and be sure to  eat an extra slice of pie for me.

{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

Money Reasons November 24, 2010 at 6:40 AM

I’ve had pretty good luck with both my wireless router (older DLink model) and my cable modem.

My wireless router is at least 10 years old. Once I gave it to my sister to try (she was having problems with her iSP), and she spilt coffee on it. She thought it was toast… well, I took it apart, cleaned it carefully and put it back together and it worked.

That said, I will have to get a quicker one soon, there are faster models out there now. Probably I’ll go with a linksys next…

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Lindy Mint November 24, 2010 at 8:13 AM

If it makes you feel better, my work email suddenly lost three years worth of my auto-fill contacts (the ones you’re too lazy to save as real contacts, but when you type the first letter of their name in the “to” field, Microsoft magically brings up a list of email addresses to choose from). I’ve been looking up everyone’s addresses and typing them in manually all week, just like in the stone ages.

But you’re right, Thanksgiving rocks.

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Valerie November 24, 2010 at 8:33 AM

I am completely with you on the wireless routers. We had to get a new one two months ago, and I was supremely annoyed at how short the last had lasted. We then discovered my in-laws had the same problem, about the same time (we set up their wireless, so no shock there… just confirmation that the things didn’t last long).

Healthcare… we surely all must have similarly frustrating experiences!! The only thing I can say is that for one small glimmer, the new health care law has regulations about insurers covering doctors close by. That is, an insurer will HAVE to provide specialists that are within a reasonable distance from you. (Although the exact number for “reasonable” has yet to be set, as that is left to the regulatory agencies to decide. My good friend works in DC in health care policy, and is swearing it will be less than 2 hr drive, which would be nice).

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Everyday Tips November 24, 2010 at 9:35 AM

Sandy, everyone needs a rant now and then. I have a particular issue that is gnawing at me that doesn’t even have anything to do with me, and I can’t turn it off.

My Linksys wireless router has been great, and I think we have had it about 5 years. I will be on the lookout for it to fail now though if something goes wrong.

Whenever I get anything from my insurance company in the mail, my blood pressure jumps 50 points. I know it is going to be them rejecting something and I have to pay more money. Then you call them and argue for 30 minutes, and then you get something else in the mail like the conversation never happened.

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Nicole November 24, 2010 at 9:42 AM

*patpatpat*
with the doctors thing… I had a similar situation with my wisdom teeth back when we were poor graduate students and couldn’t pay anyway. Eventually they had a credit agency contact us. That was fantastic– I don’t think credit agency ladies had ever heard someone so happy to hear from them. But basically I gave them the numbers of the hospital and the insurance company and *they* fixed it within a week. It was awesome. Also it hadn’t been put on our credit report yet, which was cool (that was my one worry).

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Crystal November 24, 2010 at 10:43 AM

I understand occasional needs to rant. I hate Host Monster. My sites are all down again. I have been too lazy and extremely busy, so I have put off switching them over. I am frustrated and Host Monster sucks, but at least it’s almost Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I’m trying to concentrate on that happy stuff right now.

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Aloysa November 24, 2010 at 12:45 PM

I totally understand the pop up thing on blogs. Annoying and makes me want to close the page. I easily get worked up. Also, when my husband is right it annoys me… well just a little bit. Just because I am stubborn too and think that I am always right. Well… not awlays but most of the time. 🙂 Cheers!

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Sandy L November 24, 2010 at 1:15 PM

Wow did I have a lot of typos in this post. Most are fixed now. Sorry.

BFS -Host Monster does not deserve your business.

Aloysa – I don’t get pop ups. Do they really work? They must if everyone’s jumping on the pop up bandwagon. No way I’m going there.

Money Reasons – it must be like old appliances. They never die. I wouldn’t count on your replacement to be as reliable.

Everyday Tips – Yeah, we started with Linxys..had 2 then went over to netgear, and are back on Linxys again. Our router does get a lot of use as I work from home and my husband games.

Nicole and Kris – I manage the healthcare thing mentally by just assuming that every single bill will go into suspense. That way there is no surprise. This one did surprise me because I spend hours on it already and I hear nothing for a year, assume it’s finally all set, and all of a sudden, it rises from the dead again.

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Invest It Wisely November 25, 2010 at 1:54 PM

The blog popups annoy me, too. 🙂

The extra stop sign thing annoys me too. So many stop signs go up on roads that used to be pleasant drives, like next to the water, until they put a freakin’ stop sign every 200 feet. 🙁

Lights that have a green light for every single direction annoy me too. Like a light that lets traffic from only ONE direction go, and for 15 seconds, and then the other direction goes, and then only for 15 seconds. Why not let both directions go for a full 30 seconds… is it really that hard to turn left? This isn’t a very big or busy road.

P.S. Kudos to you for admitting the husband was right! 😛

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Sandy L November 26, 2010 at 7:26 AM

Invest It – Hmm…so it’s not just my community that’s going wacko with the stop signs and lights. My husband is smarter than me, so he’s often right and I’m okay with that. It’s better than being married to a knucklehead.

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Molly On Money November 28, 2010 at 7:31 PM

Did the pie help?

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Sandy L November 29, 2010 at 5:20 AM

MoM – I’ve eaten pie every day (sometimes twice a day since thanksgiving). It helped everything but my waistline.

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Deidre Lin December 13, 2010 at 4:50 PM

I was glad to see that you were ranting about many of the things that just happened to be going on in my world currently too LOL.

Medical bills…check!
Pop ups … check!
Software … check!
Electronics…check!

A nice read and by the end I felt better knowing that I’m not alone. And, really – isn’t that why we all need a good rant now and then?

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Sandy L December 14, 2010 at 5:11 AM

How funny. Thanks for commenting. It is good to know that I’m not alone in my frustration. I’m having software problems again, but I will ignore til the weekend when I have time to deal with it on my new computer.

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