oh my!

as part of a new patient examination, my new doc had me go for a ton of blood work for baseline health, etc. I use Quest for all that blood sucking stuff. This was back in October.







My insurance always takes care of lab fees, but I received a bill from Quest rather recently. I forwarded it on to my insurance (through snail mail), but somehow they didn't get it. Then I tried faxing it to them daily for a week, different locations, different times, always busy. Called, tried new fax numbers with same result. They have all this communication documented, as I kept calling them to explain my inability to get the bill to them. I was told to re send through the mail (different addy than originally sent) and that seemed to work.

In the mean time, I got a call from a collection agency!

I guess Quest sent it off to collections pretty quickly although this is the first I heard of even having an outstanding 'bill'.

So back and forth I go with the collections agency. I called them once I received a letter- I wanted to find out what date this happened, etc. (why so quick?) Of course they launched into payment options..

them: "send us money"

me: "no"

them: "if you can't pay it all, we can put you on a payment plan"

me: "no. this isn't my bill, I do not owe you anything- it is currently being handled by my insurance company"

them; "send us money and your insurance will reimburse you"

me: "uhhhh no. I will not assume what you say is true. I need direct communication from insurance company before making any decision. I'll call back"
(really now! and hell no I'm not sending money! - later call to insurance company laughed at the collections brazen attempt to say what the insurance company would/wouldnt do- and no, it is not up to me to pay the bill in any capacity, as it is covered)

I would/should send them a "Spider Drawing As Payment", like this:



so daily calls from collections ensued. i felt like one of those people that avoid the phone expressly for this reason. I just didn't want to have the same conversation until I knew more.

I then received word back from my insurance- in writing and a phone call, that the bill was an oversight on Quests part and that they indeed should not have billed me for anything and that the bill was indeed paid in full by the insurance company. It will fall upon Quest to contact collections and state that this account should not be there. The bill was paid! There is no actual "bill". Argh!

I made a call to collections to inform them of this update, to tell them to stop calling me, and that any interaction I have with anyone on this matter will be with Quest and/or my insurance. Yeh, they are doing their 'job', but enough already!

As a last ditch effort, the collections person actually said for me to call my insurance and to let them know that they can pay the bill with a debit or credit card, and here's the reference #, phone # and contact person, etc. imagine that? And I did call my insurance people just to see if there was anything else I needed to do (and to document my self initiated follow up).

Feeling empathy for dealing with collections, the gentleman I spoke to said that he would call them on my behalf as a favor, but they wouldn't deal with them financially, just reiterate what I said- as the bill being in collections isn't appropriate and that it was a mistake on Quest. So the letter sent to Quest pertaining to this matter was copied to me and they have X amount of days to resolve this billing error and to take me out of collections.

In the mean time, I will see if anything changes on my credit report updates.

and I will wait a little longer before answering my phone again!

although- I'm now on top of my Fair Debt Collections Practices Act..
wiki article:


actual fun-tastic PDF document of Fair Debt Collections Practices Act blah blah blah:

and a super quick "ehow" to get them off my ass:


but still waiting for this next



written by this guy


looked for "smiling happy collection agents" in google images, but nothing turned up in search results. just "request impossible"

I hate malls.

Especially the Galleria.

I don't hate the Apple store.

But just about everywhere else. yuck.

ok, Yankee Candle isn't too horrifying, other than the collective candle odor permeates the air- making me gag, kind of like perfume; can't stand swallowing a mouthful of scent.

Malls. I think it is materialistic overload. Too much to look at, visually over-stimulating, I find myself wanting things. I find myself wanting to run away from all of the stuff. Its all meaningless stuff: one big concrete commercial drone.

So why was I there? Occasionally I need clothes. Yesterday I decided that I need to go out and look for something interview-worthy. Ofcourse I see all sorts of really cute things; and I want them. I like clothes and cute stuff. But I don't like the atmosphere, the lotion-counter guys trying to rub me down with hand lotion (even if they really are super cute and just trying to do their job), "no, my windshield is not cracked,thank you", sounds of crying babies everywhere, jacked up price tags, and sooo many people wandering around, making a day of being at the mall.

Maybe you like the mall, maybe you love to shop. I have friends and co workers who do it all the time. I don't partake. Sometimes I am dragged out, sometimes I go out of necessity-- but its a rare thing. In these cases, I prefer any one of the big boxes. Limited choices, cheaper prices (no matter where you purchase goods, its all 'cheap', atleast some places reflect the price) and it is easy to get in and out of those places.

I went to all sorts of other places before conceding to the fact that I would need to make it out to a mall.

And so I did.

I found what I needed, but it took awhile. I was about to leave when I suddenly felt worn out. I realized that I had not eaten since morning, and it was now after 4pm. My exit was right near a pretzel kiosk. I wish I had a video of the guy behind the counter. He was very straight faced, not helpful at all, I had to get him to talk by asking questions. It was very strange.. after he took care of me, he proceeeded to act in the same mammer with the next individual in line. I just started laughing uncontrollably.. it was something out of Seinfeld.

By the time I returned home, I was beat. Brick apartment was freakin' hot. I went into my bedroom to change into more comfy-cool clothes. I took off my shirt, sat on my bed and instantly fell back and dozed off. At least the fan was blowing.

Mall residue will do that to you.

Now.. if anyone wants to take an excursion into a book store or computer store (or any electonic gadget store), I would go without a fight. There are a few other places I don't mind venturing into, but I am not much into shopping of for the sake of shopping.

Other stuff:

• Corn is good right now. I ate plenty of it with butter (well, Smart Balance) infused with my Dill, yay!

• I am also on an Avacado kick. I get obsessed with one food and eat if for a few days. Cucumber and avacado sandwhich is it right now.

I think my oddest food obsession was sauercrout- ate that for a week straight. And its not like I even *really* like the food.

• Resume is done. Well, atleast for a few things I am thinking about. I will need to revamp it for everything I go for. It took me all day to figure out what I wanted on there. I think it could still use some serious tweaking.

• Three more weeks of insanity, I mean school to go. Actually, I want to be done with a project early if I can.

Time for bed.. good night everyone :)

Yeh, I can't draw with this thing quite yet.

I'm not a fan of sweetened tea. I went through the drive up Starbucks around the corner from my college.. I tried sipped my tea only once I arrived to class. Its sweetened. Yuck. I'm drinking it anyway; worse things could happen :)

I tormented myself with calculating the cost of going to and from work relative to gas price. Using the approximate amount of miles traveled for work purpose, the amount of miles per gallon and the total amount of miles I get to the tank, I came to stomach turning results:
I could get a job within walking distance around where I live, make less than minimum wage and still fare better. I compared prices at $2.50 and $3.50 per gallon (I like rounded off numbers) and the effects of such a price jump make quite a difference. No suprise there, but I wanted quanitiative data to support my jaded outlook :)

Over the course of the year I intend to move into another position. Not sure where or even doing what, but it will be something that further challenges me. I am stagnating where I am at now. I need to move on..when the learning stops, i move on.
I am also looking forward to taking on something that provides me with better means to support myself. ya know.. not living pay check to pay check. Besides rent and utilities, I have things to do, place to travel.. adventures to be sought. And school loans to pay *wants to hide*

I don't want to quit my job and take on just anything. Nothing wrong with flipping burgers, but it is not the resume builder I am looking for. Where I am at now has provided me with a plethora of good stuff: professional, multidimensional in nature and consistent experience. As I will have my degree this time next year, I have begun the process of searching companies that I might like to work for. Finding a better position is meant to be a calculated move, hence the one year time frame. However, if gas prices continue to be out of control, I may need to reconsider my plan. I just don't want it to bite me in the ass. It's one thing to blow my cash on joy rides to see friends, quite another to have to shave a commited amount off the paycheck just to get to work.

Although a bit of a rant, it is situations like this that light a fire under my ass and help clarify the need to take action, set my direction. To take lemons and make ...sushi.
ok, to take what is in front of you and turning into something that is your, something that you want.

And what do I want??
stay tuned...

• yawn* good night everyone. be safe..