The Endless Entry....

**What's the DRG Code For A Rant?
This is a near rant that has been building for some time. Then I stop and think about it, and the rant element of it starts to fade. I can't quite figure out how to approach this topic. Is healthcare (HC) a right? That's my first question. I don't tend to think so. On the survival list above HC would be food, clothing, and shelter, and none of those are a right. I think it's a nice thought that everyone should have HC, but unrealistic as far as expense goes. Should people have access to HC they can afford? Sure! That's where if the govt were to butt out, there would actually be market competition in the area of HC. What that would mean is that people who can afford McDonald's level HC, or those who only want to pay McDonald's HC prices would have that option. I don't think that people should be able to pay McDonald's HC prices and get Ferrari level HC. Market competition means varying levels of service at varying levels of skill and quality. The people choose with their money who stays in business and who gets forced out of the market. The govt (including the legal system) takes several steps back, and the market will become more diverse and competitive. Insurance runs along the same lines. You want to buy their product, they get to set the price. That's the way the market works. If govt steps in and says, you have to do X, Y, and Z, which results in these companies loosing money. Eventually they go broke, or stop offering that service because it's a money pit. Either way, that leaves the govt holding the bag. Insurance is another thing that isn't a right. It's a service with a market driven price. If you can't afford the price, you don't get the service, right? As far as I see it, yes. If they want to make health insurance mandatory, maybe they should do it like they do with car insurance. You get caught without, you can get a ticket, go to jail, etc, etc. That way people could get the state/national mandatory minimum HC insurance required by law. If nothing else that would open the doors to all kinds of new HC insurance providers, and provide a new market that they could compete for. And what about churches? They're tax free entities, so why not make them start shouldering the burden of HC for their parishioners? After all, god will provide, right? So, the far right and the far left are at war in my brain. The Rep side of my brain says that if you can't pay for it, you don't get it. Case closed. And no more govt handouts or bailouts. And they need to relax all the rules and regulations on HC so that the market can be more open for competition, thus driving prices down and giving the people more options. The Dem side of my brain says that people/kids/babies shouldn't have to needlessly suffer for lack of adequate HC. The only entity large enough and well financed enough to be able to provide such a degree of services would be the govt. After all, the govt needs to keep the welfare of it's people in mind....or so I've been told.
So who's right? Beats me.

**Wait....That Was 3 Days Off?
Three days off, and not much at all to say for it. Labor day weekend came and went, almost without notice around my house. I should have seen if Cromag wanted to come up for a day or so. The only thing of note that happened was Kane Co Flea Market. Scott had his usual selection of tiki items, with a few new additions, but nothing really caught my eye or got me to open my wallet. I did find a couple of nice old boardgames, a most awesome looking opal ring, and what could end up being Cromag's belated B-Day present (after I do some work on it).

**Rabid bats seem to be all the rage in Dekalb county this year.

**A Big Dry Spot
No more aquariums for me. A hobby I had been involved with for almost two decades came to an end over the Labor Day weekend when I handed off all my aquariums and related stuff to Kittyluv and her family. I was a bit bummed about the whole thing, but it really was for the better. It's one less thing for me to have on my plate, and it seems that everyone involved was really happy to receive all the stuff. That makes it a win-win situation. I still enjoy the whole visual effect of a nicely maintained tank, but it had become pretty obvious that I had no interest in actually doing the work involved in keeping my tank looking that way any more. So, I can put that on the list with chain mail, guitar, candlemaking, and darts as something that I was interested in, learned, tried in various forms, and then moved on from. Who knows, maybe I'll go back to it after a while.

**OK, feeding my addiction myself is one thing. Someone else feeding my addiction with Krull is another.

**Rip It Up
Regular sheets and sheets of newspaper have been reduced to smaller bits as I continue to build up a supply of raw materials for my upcoming attempt at papier-mâché. Got some masking tape in a couple of sizes, a huge thing of glue, and a sack of flour. And wire. The book I read recommended using wire coat hangers, but I got so much wire in the garage that I think I'll start with that first. I just need to go over to Michael's and get some Sculpey, or something like that, in a couple of different colors, and I should be all set to start.

**The Dog Abhors A Vacuum
Reka took it upon herself to see just how durable the new vacuum cleaner was the other day. I guess she was trying to make herself comfortable on the floor next to the vacuum cleaner when she either stepped or laid on the handle release lever. This allowed the handle to go crashing onto the floor from it's full height, both grazing and startling Reka in the process. No harm was done to the dog, but the same couldn't be said for the vacuum. The handle, which was meant to go almost all the way to the floor, now went all the way and stayed there. There was no way to get it back into it's upright and locked position. Good thing we had just bought it, so back to the store it went, with the guy at the counter saying we may even get it back the same day since it was most likely just a minor adjustment that was needed. That day came and went. The next day came and went. Then Sheri got on the horn to the store to find out what was going on. Turns out this one little mishap had broken something that the guy at the shop had never seen break before. He ended up having to call the place in Chicago to get the right part to fix it, and if he couldn't do it, then it would have to go to Rockford for repairs. Luckily, the part came in, the fix got done, I didn't have to kill the dog, and once more the dust bunnies are quaking in fear.

**Don't Say It!
The personnel situation here at work is waaaay too unsettled. You can never tell from one day to the next what the mix of people is going to be. Since I have been told more than once that people don't 'get' me, I have found it best to remain as silent as possible. Since very ,very, very few of the conversations around here actually involve anything of interest, I find I'm not missing much.

**You Get A Bowl Of Soup With That?
This was the topic where 2 out of 3 was not good enough for the woman. I got the canned tomatoes I forgot at the grocery store (although I still think she wrote the quantity down wrong) and I managed to pick up the bedspread from the dry cleaners. I did not get my hair cut, however. Didn't want to. Still don't really want to. Well, I guess it would be better said that I don't want to have to pay someone to cut my hair. So, she is not real happy about that. The word 'moppy' keeps getting tossed around. The whole thing is leading me to weigh my disgust at having to pay to get my hair cut against the potential fury that the li'l pink one can generate. I'm guessing I'll just have to cough up the money...

**It Sorta Speaks To Me...
I think I have the furniture all arranged in the side area of the basement. I'm not sure what types or sizes of display cabinets or shelves I want to use there, but all the big furniture pieces are in place. At least for now. I'm starting to think that I have a few too many end tables, though. I may end up moving a bunch of them to over where the bar area is going to be. Maybe that will help me figure out the arrangement of the chairs over there. Of course, I should figure out if the bar assembly that I have my eye on will even fit in that space before I go making too many permanent plans. Weird thing is, if I were to put some reasonable effort into it, I think I actually could have the space done by H'ween. But that whole issue is slowly becoming a moot point.

**How Many Geeks Does It Take....
How many people are required to comprise the core membership of a game group? This is my current befuddlement. While I have gotten a few responses from others on BGG, I find myself disappointed. That, I understand, is fairly stupid, since I haven't even met any of these folks yet. But more importantly, I have an idea for the group/club logo. I mean really, you can run thin on members if you've got a kick ass logo, right? The whole naming of the group element is also still in the formative stages. So, in essence, I think I may be about half a step ahead of where I was, and a few steps to the side. Ah, progress....

**Ow. Ow. Damn wrist. Ow.

**Back to the TV. Already on the second disc of season 2 of Rescue Me.

**I think my honeymoon with Facebook may almost be over. I still enjoy being able on know what's going on with everyone, but the whole experience overall seems to be getting a tad dull.

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