The Bennett Clan: 2005.05

Saturday, May 14, 2005

my body, my records -- JuJu (1:12:00 PM)

I have a problem. I know any doctor's office needs a permanent record of patients they've treated. I don't know all the semantics, but I know it comes in handy in case a person tries to file some pesky lawsuit.....anyway. We've recently switched care providers ~ we're still with Tricare (Sierra Military Health, or whatever they're calling themselves these days) and we receive health care at any military facility or an approved civilian provider. We now live outside the 30 mile radius of Ft. Drum ~ meaning we can still go to Drum for care, or go to a civilian in our town. I made all the necessary changes at Drum, so now all I need are our records. Coincidentally, both Sophie and I had/have appointments with the doc, so I sort of needed the records from Drum to bring to the brand new doctors. I load up the kids, drive the 30+ miles to post, and walk my happy self to the records window at the clinic. The, ahem, ever-so-nice lady at the window tells me "YOUR records are the property of the U.S. GOVERNMENT. They are to be maintained at a GOVERNMENT FACILITY AT ALL TIMES. I'll put in a copy order, and that will take up to THREE WEEKS." We talked back and forth, and all I got was a loud, rude "You CAN'T have them!" (Among other things...) All I wanted to do was sign them out for three days, then I would return them for said copying and all that business. I've signed them out before, and returned them promptly...apparently, they no longer sign records out, because people were keeping their own records at home. Oh no! Not that! Their own records!! I was rather upset, and since I tend to have a bit of a temper, told the lady the policy was ridiculous (even though I knew she hadn't thought up the policy!) and I wondered what was so important about my records that they needed to be kept under lock and key?! Yes, I can get copies. But I want Drum to keep the copy, and let me have my original records. No dice. So I called my poor unknowing husband on my cell, and cried and whined about "my body, my records," and what was I to do?! I needed the records now, not three weeks from now. As luck would have it, a nice lady (who works at the MEDDAC ~ the clinic) walked by and heard my tale of woe. She told me to go talk to the patient representative. I got the same sorry story, only nicer and much more palatable, but I was able to tell her that the lady at records was rude, crude, and socially unacceptable. Hopefully, at least, the Records Lady can be taught to be a tad nicer. Now, though, I must go for my well woman check on Monday with no records in tow.
This is long ~ I know. I'm just irritated. I appreciate free health care. You may be thinking I shouldn't complain. Maybe I shouldn't. But my family lives in sub-standard mouse-infested housing (and let me just tell you about the toilet that overflowed upstairs through my ceiling into my kitchen -including gushing down through the light fixture!- last Friday night and the maintenance guy told me on the phone "Yeah, that'll happen sometimes, Ma'am.") but they're worried about keeping my medical records "secure." Maybe they might worry about keeping my toilets secure?! Or the ceilings?!

Monday, May 09, 2005

Because It's Never Too Early... -- chipbennett (9:39:00 PM)

Mark Coffey over at Decision '08 blog referenced one of my posts in his analysis of a potential Evan Bayh presidential bid in '08.

As Chip Bennett recently noted, all the signs of a 2008 run are present for Bayh. I think we can safely assume he'll be around for the primaries. It is in the primaries that Bayh would face his most difficult battle, one symbolic of the struggle for the Democratic soul: will the Dems be the party of Bill Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council, or the party of Howard Dean and MoveOn.org? (Ironically, Bayh would be a more representative 'New Democrat' candidate than Clinton's own wife).

His candidate profiles make for interesting reading... personally, I'm hoping Condi runs for the GOP nod.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

The Fork Incident -- JuJu (10:33:00 AM)

Okay, so I'm a Bennett. You can marry me off, change my name, but at the end of the day, the Bennett shines through! So here's the thing ~ don't use a fork to stab the foil thingy on the coffee creamer container. I had made my favorite Southern pecan coffee, and it was waiting ever so fragrantly in my coffee maker on the counter. I had just gotten Morgan on the bus, and came in to get my beloved coffee. I got my cup and set it on the counter, then got my creamer out of the fridge. I took the lid off, and tried in vain to peel away the stupid foil thingy (and yes, that's the technical term for it!). So, brilliant me decides the fork sitting on the counter would be the perfect device for puncturing the stubborn foil......I go to stab it, and end up stabbing the hand holding the creamer bottle!!! Oh the horror, it's my hand! In all the pain and confusion, I knock my coffee cup to the floor, it shatters, and uh oh, the puppy is under my feet! I shoo the pup (he's the newest addition the family, 4 months old, a lab/boxer named Sarge) from the kitchen ~ which, by the way, is about as big as a small closet. Anyway, I grab a paper towel to stop the blood seeping from my hand, clean up the broken cup, pour my creamer, then put the lid back on the creamer bottle. At least I thought I put the lid back on properly......I put the creamer back on the door in the fridge, and go to shut the door, when WHAM! Creamer bottle hops out and falls to the floor, half open, spilling cream all over the bottom of the fridge and the floor. Here comes Sarge, ready to do his little puppy job of licking up anything spilled.....meanwhile, Ethan and Sophie have (unbeknownst to me) acquired the container of Nestle Quik and are having a grand old breakfast of powdered chocolate right out of the container! I get the creamer cleaned up, much to Sarge's dismay, and head into the living room to assess the chocolate damage my kids have done. Sophie is holding the container, looking at me with the deer in the headlights stare.....Ethan is saying "It wasn't me! It was Sophie! SHE got it!!" So I ask him if he ate any....he says "Oh, no, Mommy!" with the tell-tale chocolate ring around his mouth. "Hmmm, I say, "so how did the chocolate get all over your mouth?" He tells me, without missing a beat ~ "Oh, Sophie PUT the chocolate in my mouth, and then she smeared it all over my hands, too!" Oy vey. So, Ethan gets in trouble for lying, Sophie gets in trouble for getting the chocolate out, while I just want to go drink my coffee. But first, I must clean up the powdered chocolate on the couch, floor, and in the kids' toy playpen. I get out my Dyson, which is an amazing vacuum cleaner, by the way, and go to suck up the mess in the playpen ~ but my vacuum is actually too amazing, and it ends up sucking the side of the playpen right off! Luckily, it was one piece, that I removed from my hungry vacuum and can sew back on.......and now I'm licking my wound and drinking my cold coffee.
The kids are playing a rousing game of "let's find all the blankets in the place and make a pile then get under them and fight over Sophie's puppy purse." Ethan keeps saying "But, I'm supposed to be the bandit, Sophie, so you need to let me bandit your puppy! We'll be best friends tomorrow."
Hmmm. Only 4 more months until Ethan starts kindergarten......should be interesting to see what comes out of his mouth there.

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Quoted in the Terre Haute Tribune Star -- chipbennett (5:18:00 PM)

I was quoted in a Terre Haute Tribune Star article that ran this morning, concerning a student rally held in opposition of President Jack Midgley. Money 'graf:

Chip Bennett, a Rose-Hulman graduate who is now an engineer in St. Louis, believes Midgley's business background can be an asset to Rose-Hulman. "His business acumen and vision for the Institute are much-needed in a world in which the nature of post-secondary education will be facing drastic change in the near future," he wrote on aboutmidgley.com.

He's talked to Midgley a few times, but has not spent a lot of time on campus recently. "I can't comment on how he treats people," Bennett said in a telephone interview.

(Apparently, Sue Loughlin, the author, found my web site via my pro-Midgley post on the anti-Midgley website aboutmidgley.com, and emailed me asking for a phone interview, which I did Friday afternoon.)

Here is my original post about Midgley, and here is my response to this morning's article.

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