Nightingale

At perris, the JM let me and my friend leave our belts on til hookup time. Makes sense, I guess. We weren't wearing parachutes, the door was open, and the argument for removing the belts is in case you have a canopy out in the plane. Tandem students don't have canopies.

I think he was laughing at the irony of the team moving article and the fire article being back to back, not at the fire itself

California has a law that makes it mandatory for employers to offer health insurance. So, yes, they do have to do it.

YES. They do cover viagra. One of our coaches when I was teaching at the school was taking it (and yes, he told us at a faculty meeting, kinda as a PSA. LOL. of course, the all-female faculty teased him mercilessly after that, and it was all in good-natured fun)

Well, this year, the diocese of Orange finally got some sense and realized that the majority of their paid female employees are women over the age of 40 and just started covering the pill, because it cost them a LOT more to cover hormone replacement therapy, which is more dangerous to women than the pill is.

Frankly, the church's insurance plan failed to recognize that birth control is not always prescribed for contraceptive purposes. The church also failed to recognize that some women have to take the pill to prevent a pregnancy that could endanger their lives. Funny... most priests say that B/C in this situation is ok, yet they refuse to pay for it. For example, my mom's on it for menopause symptoms. She taught at a Catholic school til last year, and I'm sorry, its rediculous to have a 55 year old woman shelling out $60 a month for birth control because of the church's idiotic closemindedness.

Hey... I haven't gotten mine yet. can ya check to see if my name's in it? Kris Koenig A-44563

I'm putting away money in a slush fund too. The thing is, if one of them gets sick next month, I couldn't pay for it if I took Ron's idea of putting away the cost of the insurance in my own bank account, because next month, in the account, I'd only have $30. I'm going to keep them insured til I build up a nice little nest egg, and then will re-evaluate.

The first time I jumped at a new DZ (Elsinore), I had to have someone spot for me, simply because I didn't know what the heck I was looking at from the air. Now, I know right where we are, and exactly what I'm seeing, because I'm used to it. At Perris, they taught us to spot on AFF 1, in part of the FJC. On one of my solos, There were me and three other solo students in the plane, (I was first out of the students, no AFF or tandem on this load), and I asked for a go-around simply because I couldn't see the DZ. Another student was sitting right by the doorway and said to me, as the plane turned "Thanks. I'm always afraid to ask for that." Why the heck would someone be afraid to ask for a go-around if they're too far off the DZ? I don't get it.

Exactly. It isn't the question of "is he worth it?" When you adopt a pet, you take on a responsibility to provide for that pet over its lifespan. That means when they're sick, you take care of them. Period. So it isn't "is he worth it?" its "where can I get the cash?" And now, that its mostly over (he's probably coming home today), its a question of "how can I make sure this won't cause a financial hardship for me in the future?" What I've decided, after calling various pet insurance companies... NONE of them will cover Ani for this condition, ever. I've run into the whole "pre-existing condition" issue. But, they will cover him for any other accident or disease, and Indy for this condition AND the other stuff. What I'm going to do: 1. Put a good chunk of the tax refund that will be showing up in a few weeks in a savings account. About $1000.00. This is my emergency fund, for kitties or anything else. 2. Get the Basic insurance coverage for the kitties. ($111.00 per year, per cat). 3. Pay off my parents (who paid this vet bill) with the remainder of the tax refund. 4. Pray this doesn't happen again, but if it does, I'll be more prepared.

OUCH!

the difference is that cats are cute, furry animals. most men are just furry animals. therein lies the difference. j/k, of course.

RoysPlayThing

my vet actually charged a little less than the fee schedule, so it all would've been covered.

hmm... I'm not sure what you were looking at, but the page I've got that lists all the cardio diagnostic test stuff at $317.

its a $50 deductible. The medicine from the surgery would have been covered. His antibiotics would be covered. Anesthesia is covered. IV is covered.

its not for standard care (exams, vaccines, and such), unless you get the routine care coverage (an extra $10.00 a month). I'm not going with the routine care thing. That's an expected expense I can plan for. Look at it this way: Cat, $17.67 a month. He's three years old. Had I been paying his insurance premiums for all three years of his life, I'd have only paid $636.12. The insurance still would've saved me $300.00, plus the inconvenience of an unexpected large expense.

Depends on the pet. There's a calculator on the website. for one cat, age 3, the premium is $17.67 a month for the superior coverage, and $11.25 a month for the basic coverage. They do have a multi-pet discount.

A few months ago, I took my kitties to the vet for their vaccines. While we were waiting, I picked up a brochure that was sitting on the vet's front counter. The brochure was for pet health insurance. I chuckled, thinking "my kitties are indoor. They're not going to catch anything or get hurt. What the heck would I need insurance for??" And put the brochure back, thinking no more of it. http://www.petinsurance.com/ Well, I sure could've used that insurance this weekend. My kitty got very sick with a urinary tract blockage (the vet says this is somewhat common in neutered male cats) and had to have surgery and a catheter put in, with an IV for fluids. Between the x-rays (have to check for kidney stones and the like), blood tests (must check kidney function because the tract was blocked), anesthesia, IV, fluids, emergency after-hours exam, and all that, the vet bill totals more than $900.00. I don't have $900.00. I had to borrow it from my parents. I HATE borrowing from my parents. First off, I hate having to do it in the first place. Second, they won't leave me alone about paying them back, even though they know darn well they'll get the money the second I have it to give them. They gave me a terrible time about it. "$900! FOR A CAT?! You should just put him to sleep! He's not worth it!" Wanna bet he's not worth it? He's worth every penny. How can you even compare money to the amount of love and companionship you get from a pet? I'll come up with the money somehow, even if I have to sell my rig to do it. So, the moral of this story is: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, GET INSURANCE FOR YOUR PETS!!!!! If I'd had insurance, this whole ordeal would have cost me a $50.00 deductable, rather than $900. Sure, its a bit of an expense every month, but better a little expense than a huge, unexpected one. Starting next week, both my kitties are going to have little kitty health insurance cards. I'd do it right now, but I have to wait til Anakin has a clean bill of health. http://www.petinsurance.com/ you can use any vet you want to, which is nice. Again, please, please, please, get insurance for your pet. Its about the cost of one jump ticket, or four mocha frappuccinos, a month. You really don't want to be in my situation right now.

0:0:0 no action no jumps no beer I was going to jump on Sunday. I even had $40 squirreled away in the back of my wallet just for jumping. I haven't jumped in a month. And then, my kitty got sick. Since I'm looking at a $900 vet bill, I really couldn't justify jumping. Plus, I'm worried out of my mind about my cat, so I probably wouldn't have had much fun anyway. But, the good news is, if he keeps doing as well as he is, he gets to come home tonight!!!

WOOHOO!!!!! CONGRATS, GIRL!!!!! when I finally get up some cash to jump, we'll have to go for a two way or something. Won't be for a while, though. these $900 vet bills are killing me right now (but kitty is doing much better, so its well worth it). sigh. I'm so jealous. I haven't even had the chance to put my first (BEER) jump on my rig since I paid for it the first week of february. :(

my results: 1. Neo-Pagan (100%) 2. Unitarian Universalism (93%) 3. Mahayana Buddhism (91%) 4. New Age (91%) 5. Reform Judaism (86%) 6. Liberal Quakers (83%) 7. Theravada Buddhism (80%) 8. Jainism (75%) 9. Sikhism (70%) 10. Orthodox Judaism (69%) 11. New Thought (65%) 12. Bahá'í Faith (64%) 13. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (63%) 14. Hinduism (63%) 15. Secular Humanism (60%) 16. Islam (60%) 17. Scientology (56%) 18. Taoism (45%) 19. Nontheist (43%) 20. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (40%) 21. Orthodox Quaker (37%) 22. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (30%) 23. Jehovah's Witness (30%) 24. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (22%) 25. Eastern Orthodox (19%) 26. Roman Catholic (19%) 27. Seventh Day Adventist (13%)

hmm... harry potter REALLY starts getting good at book 3. I didn't have a problem with a "wizard school" premise. Loads of authors have done that, including Andre Norton, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Mercedes Lackey. Gotta learn magic somewhere, I guess.

Definitely read "Jack the Ripper: Case Closed" by Patricia Cornwell. Also read Harry Potter if you haven't yet. I promise they're not kids books. I've given five or six friends copies of the first one, and every one of them have gone out and bought the rest of the series. Also on my recommneded reading list: Anything by Mercedes Lackey the "Irish" series by Andrew Greeley (make sure you start at book 1 or its confusing)

Ok. As a former teacher, and someone who is finishing up a master's in education this semester (last class! whew!) this is what I'd suggest: Get her a tutor. If her test scores are dropping, that is indicating a lack of understanding of the material, which may be causing her frustration with homework, ie. struggling to finish it, then giving up because she can't do it anyway, and then eventually deciding not to try. I would strongly discourage negative punishments. They give kids a negative attitude towards school. Instead, try a system of positive rewards to work towards something she really wants. (ie, one week of complete homework = you'll pay for her and her friend to go to the movies, one month complete homework = something bigger that she really likes doing). Call the teachers and make an arrangement that every friday, either you will call them or they will call you, and you will get a homework completion report from them. Talk to the office and see if they have a daily report program (kids write down homework and classwork, teacher signs off, kid brings paper home to parents). If they have that program, put her on it. If not, talk to each teacher, and implement something like it. oh, and, pay her for grades. A lot of parents don't like to do that, but it works. Its also very reflective of the real world. You work hard, you get paid. For so long, kids have been expected to work hard just for pats on the back. We adults wouldn't work our tails off doing something we didn't really like just for an "atta boy!", so why do we expect our children to? I've seen kids' grades jump a full GPA point when their parents started paying them. Some things I've seen parents use: $5 for every A on a regular test. $10 for every A on a midterm/final $50 for every A on a report card $20 for every A- on a report card $10 for every B+ on a report card Straight Bs are expected, and not paid. If the grades become a serious problem, you could dock her allowance by a few dollars for every C or below, but again, I'd discourage the negative consequences except in extreme cases.