The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
Saturday Trip to the Library
Actual walls and something roof-like and shape. Over on the right-hand side, you can almost see that there were lights on inside the building. We were told that if they got enough done before the winter really set in, if there was enough structure to protect the workers from the elements, that construction could continue through the early months of the year. It seems they succeeded in that.
This is the corner of Glenview and Harlem. There are bricks! I have seen the blueprints dozens of times and am still not sure where the entrances are. But this looks like there will be doors here, I think. I know the parking lot is going to be where the current library stands. Another Health Care Rant
The diagnosis was chronic sinusitis and an allergy to mold. The treatment was three different allergy medications and weekly shots. A year later, I have dropped one of the prescriptions and have graduated to bi-weekly “maintenance” shots.
In the past, say six months, I have come to the conclusion that I will never entirely kick this allergy. I might be taking Allegra D for the rest of my life. There are way worse things. However:
Several months ago, when I went online to re-order my 90-day supply of the drug, I was shocked to find the cost had gone up: $340 and change. Now my insurance pretty well reimburses me for the cost, but still. $340/90 days = $3.78 per day. For one drug.
Claritin D has been available over-the-counter for awhile now. Both drugs are aniti-histamines and both have a decongentant. My insurance won’t cover Claritin D, but my flexible spending account will. Claritin D costs $20 for a 15 day supply on drugstore.com. $20/15 days = $1.33 per day. About 35% of Allegra D.
I have pretty well determined that the decongestant, rather than the anti-histamine, is important to me. So I gave Claritin D a try. I bought a box on drugstore.com. It seems to be working. So I went back on line to order a 90-day supply. Do you see where this is going?
Drugstore.com gave me the message that my state regulates the drug and I can only order one box at a time. You know, because of the meth-fiends.
Unacceptable.
There is no way I am going to pay shipping every two weeks for this drug, and there is no way I am going to go to the actual drugstore every two weeks to pick it up. I will just keep my prescription, thank you.
This is me, one of the trying-to-be-good people, leaving the conscientious-consumer party because the regulations are lame. I am sorry, Blue Cross, but I ordered the Allegra D.
Reconnecting with the District
I had a horrible moment Monday night: Checking into the hotel, it hit me that I wasn’t particularly happy to be there.
I am always happy to be back in Washington.
So I quickly determined that it had been rather too long since I made a pilgrimage to President Lincoln’s shrine and set out to do so after work on Tuesday. The first awesome thing that happened was that walking along..what is that, Independence Avenue?..when I reached the back garden of the Smithsonian Castle. Or is that the front garden? The front door faces the Mall, right? Anyway, something caught my eye:
Proposal from the HR Blogosphere
Charlie Judy, who blogs over at HR Fishbowl, said something that made me cheer:
“So I propose that the rest of January is Shut up for Haiti Month. Work really hard to stop complaining about your job for just two more weeks. Recognize how lucky you really are. And save everyone else from your ignorance of what really matters. And although I’m a sympathetic and empathetic HR guy, if you complain over the next two weeks, I’m not listening. PASS IT ON!”
How many people in your office came back from the holidays thinking the season to be grateful is officially over? Here is the rest of the piece.
Pushing Facebook
The steering committee for the Used Book Store met today for some review and planning. We talked a lot about the new building and how we will use the space. Then we came to how we will continue to promote it. I don’t know how we got to talking about Facebook, but I offered to explore the options. Of course, the easiest way to explore the options is to just go ahead and set up the Group.
The first thing I discovered is that I can’t invite people to join the Group unless I am actual Facebook friends with them. So, here it is. You are all invited.
I put in an Event for our next sale and my favorite link on the Library’s web site – the web cam on the construction site. Then I coerced our director to let me set up an account for her. By the time we had traded e-mails and she had verified her account, she had four friend requests. If Facebook were a popularity contest (and it sure might be), she wins. Now. I’d better start figuring out what kind of content to add.
How exactly did I go from being a Facebook Hater to a Facebook Pusher?
Donating to Aid in a Disaster
The Chicago Tribune published an article by Jon Yates regarding charitable donations in the event of an emergency, like we are seeing in Haiti. It was a warning about the people trying to cash in on the generosity of those trying to help. “Look before you leap” was the main idea.. Yates says:
“There seem to be more and more every time there is a disaster,” said Steve Bernas, president of the Better Business Bureau in Chicago. “Americans are very generous, and these scam artists come out of the woodwork.”
I am fairly certain there is a deeper circle of hell for criminals that rob the good samaritans who are trying to help those in need.
Personally, I stick with the Red Cross for my donations. They have been around forever and the last time I remember a scandal regarding their use of funds – it was after Sepetember 11 – I was actually on their side.
My friend Jodi posted her suggestions on Facebook. I have not personally vetted these, but if you would like someplace else to look:
Four ways to help Haiti: 1). Partners in Health (http://www.pih.org/home.html); 2). Doctors Without Borders (http://doctorswithoutborders.org); 3). Yele Haiti (http://www.yele.org or text “Yele” to 501501 to make a $5 donation); 4). State Department (text “Haiti” to 90999 to make a $10 donation).
I am digging the text donations – that was a great idea for reaching out to a different audience for contributions to the effort.
So please give what you can – and give wisely.
Pilot Program – Sheraton Seattle
The Sheraton in Seattle was running a pilot program last week. It was characterized as “going green”. The deal was that if you voluntarily forgo housekeeping service for one day, you will receive a $5 voucher for the restaurant. The vouchers can also be traded in for Starwood Hotel points.
I gave this serious thought. Here’s what went through my brain:
1. If they are trying something, I should try it. Points for trying new things.
2. I already skip having the linens changed. I can hang up my towels and reuse them like a normal person. And it’s not like I ever make my bed at home.
3. I wonder what the housekeepers think..less work for them or less tips?
Then the lightbulb went on – could this be an excuse to reduce staff?
Hm. Well, I tried it. I left the card on my door the next morning, asking housekeeping to skip me. When I came back to my room that night, housekeeping had clearly been there. I was very glad that I had left a couple of singles on the dresser so that I wouldn’t spend them.
I left the card on the door. The next morning, the card was on the floor by the door along with the $5 voucher. Housekeeping did not go to my room that day.
Now. I don’t remember the next sequence of events, but I meant for housekeeping to come the third day, and they didn’t. I was left a voucher. I called down at 5pm to ask about it. The guy on the phone said that if I wanted my room cleaned, they would send someone by that night. I finally figured out that the card was to be left on the door the night before the No Service day, as opposed to the day of. And I had received a second voucher. No one came by that night.
I quit fooling around.
The primary problem is that I didn’t necessarily know the night before whether I wanted housekeeping service or not. But the more I think about this, the more it seems about staffing and the less it seems about “going green”.
If I am already skipping the linen change and skipping the fresh towels, what’s left but the electricity of running the vacuum cleaner? Staff time. Why would I have to decide the night before? So they can tell people not to bother coming in to work? And is the Sheraton thinking of nickel and diming on the “extra” costs, like the airlines? (Inasmuch as they charged me $10.95 per day for Internet, I would not be surprised.)
I don’t think I approve.
Sin in the Second City, by Karen Abbott
Book 1Two sisters open the most fab house of ill fame on the continent. The harlots appeared genteel and educated. They were well-paid and kept in good health. There was a waiting list a mile long of girls that wanted to work there. If you wanted to make an argument about why prostitution should be legal (and I don’t) you would point to the Everleigh Club. Except for that part where Marshall Field jr. was (allegedly) shot inside.
Outside its walls, however, Chicago was getting uglier and uglier. The Chicago Way, one might suggest, is eternal. But White Slavery is no joke and the good people and Good People were fighting it. This book chronicles both the Club and the fight.
What Abbott did really well as a storyteller was to make me sympathetic to two sides – the sisters and the reformers. The sisters were never a part of a White Slavery operation, but were certainly operating outside the law and in the same industry. As a reader, I could root for the Good People to take out the Bad Guys and still root for the sisters to stay out of the crossfire. While they made fun of the lady who lead the anti-cigarette league.
Seriously – girls are being drugged, kidnapped, raped and enslaved outside your door and you want to crusade against smoking cigarettes? Priorities, people.
When the district was dismantled, the Everleigh Club went down first and the sisters retired. With all of the pure evil houses in town, they took out the least offensive because it was the most famous. An embarrassment to the city, they called it. It somehow felt like they – the politicians, I mean – couldn’t deal with two women that had been playing their game and winning.
It made for a good read, anyway.
Seattle, Take 2
Among the many, many reasons that I appreciate my employer is that it sends me to places that I would not have otherwise visited. And while the Pacific Northwest has always been described to me as a lovely place to visit, it just wasn’t on my list as a priority vacation spot.
We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel on Pike Street. I will have a rant on a certain pilot program later, but in general it was a nice place with a good restaurant and a great location. Here was the view from my window, for those of you that like these things:
Since I was there working, the opportunities to enjoy the city were primarily at dinner time. I was with one group that went to the revolving restaurant in the Space Needle. (Note to Joy: I only ate there. I didn’t see anything.)
I skipped the appetizer, because I already figured that I might want dessert. There was a special on the menu – I forget what it was called but it involved butternut squash risotto and shrimp. We were dining late, and when the waiter said they were out of it I let out a rather loud “Aww, man!”. Then he said he had two left in the back and asked if I wanted him to put one aside. Ummmm…..yes. Yes, I do. And so I learned that tantrums sometimes work.
A couple of nights later, I went with a group to the aforementioned Waterfront Grill. Again, skipped the appetizer because I had already seen the flaming Baked Alaska. I ordered the crab-stuffed shrimp, which was lovely.
Finally, on Wednesday, I went to Pike Place Market, known in my office as “that place where they throw the fish”. Again, it was all about the food. There was a lady handing out samples of baked apple chips. Apple chips do not impress me, but I took one and walked on. It was fabulous, and I went back to buy a bag.
I found a local history book that doesn’t look boring and also picked up a Seahawks jersey for the nephew’s birthday. Then I came home. Oh, and here are the random pics of the bay:
Booking Travel
I have a lot to write about (Seattle and the book I finished and True Blood) but I can’t find the cord to upload my few pictures and I don’t know what I am going to read next and I hate posting my books without something new to put in the “What I’m Reading” corner because it looks lame and I am only five episodes into True Blood so I shouldn’t talk about it yet. So.
I have read several interesting articles on travel lately. This one by Christopher Elliott in the Chicago Tribune lists certain types of trips that we should not book online.
I have used the leisure travel expert from my employer’s business travel agency twice – once for a cruise with my friends and once for a tour of Spain and Portugal with my dad. I felt like an Internet pansy, but I am happy to say that both cruises and international travel are on the list.
For the cruise I took (several years ago) I wanted someone to tell me why one line or one itinerary was better or worse than the others. It also helped to get the plans in order and then tell my friends to call the travel agent to book themselves.
For my summer vacation to New Orleans, I booked online. I was using United miles for the flight, so I used their website. While doing that, I found that I could use miles to book my hotel. I was comfortable doing this because I have been to the city several times before and I did additional research online before settling on a hotel. Also, I am a savvier traveler now than when I went on those tours.
But I was just telling my mother about how every revolution has a counterrevolution (according to Professor Blight) and here it is with booking online:
Elliott says:
“A recent Forrester Research study suggests there’s something of a backlash when it comes to booking travel online. It concludes 15 percent fewer travelers will use the Web in 2009, compared with two years ago — a finding that comforts many travel agents who previously saw themselves on the endangered list.”
I am happy to know I am not alone here. And I haven’t had to learn the hard way. Yet.
The Next Dark Age 