Protecting your privacy at all costs

Speaking of healthcare issues, I thought this was pretty ironic…

The other night, I got a phone call. Now granted, on the caller ID, it did list the name of the insurance company that handles our prescriptions. But I know it is possible to fake this with the right equipment. So they called and asked to speak to me, and then said they needed me to tell them what my birthdate was. I asked why – they said it was to protect my privacy – because of HIPAA rules or something, they had to confirm it was me. So, I told them, “let me get this straight, you call ME in the middle of the night and then want me to fork over my personal information and this is to protect my privacy?? Sorry, I don’t think so.”

I told them anything they needed to tell me, they can put in the mail but I’m not going to freely give personal information to someone who randomly calls me in the middle of the night. Somehow I don’t think that’s what they had in mind when they wrote up the HIPAA Law.

Open Letter: Dear Clothing Companies

Clothing should be soft. Comfortable. Something you want to live in. News flash: Scratchy tags do not fall into this category. I understand you want to draw my attention to the fact that my shirt is made in China, as well as being “fabrique en Chine” in addition to being “hecho en China” but once I’m aware of that fact, I don’t really need to be reminded. Every second. So please understand that I will probably want to remove said scratchy tag. Therefore, when you attach scratchy tags, could you NOT sew the tag into a critical part of the seam so that removing the tag causes the entire shirt to fall apart? Hmm? Pretty please? Too much to ask??!!

Attention Walmart shoppers: You are not getting bigger, the world is getting smaller!

So I finally got out for my clothes shopping spree. As it turns out, I’m not a size 10…. I’m a size 8. (!!!) My initial reaction was “NO FREAKING WAY!” and then I remembered… I’m being played. Big time. Do you remember hearing about that whole “vanity sizing” thing. Oh, yeah. Bummer! Well, the truth is I have *never* been a size 8. I remember when I was in college, and I went through a starvation diet phase – I managed to get myself down to a size 9. I bought a pair of jeans. Neither the diet or that size lasted very long.

So in the last few years, they’ve changed the size scale. But still – I’m sticking with the fact that the last time I had to buy a pair of jeans (which was in 2005 or 2006) I was buying size 16 jeans. I can’t believe the size scale changed since then (if it did, SHUSH! I don’t want to hear about it!) 😛 There is also the issue that I tried on jeans from Costco, Walmart (Levi brand), Old Navy, and in all cases the size 10 were too big – size 8 fit. So unless they’re all trying to play to my ego, could I have really gotten down to a size 8?? Being that I am still a size 16 in my head – as far as I’m concerned, this is all just a cruel joke the world is playing on me.

I’ll never know the truth. Either way, I have jeans that fit me, they’re not falling off. They’re flattering, and I feel good in them. That’s all that really matters.

Updated: Actually, I may need to bring these jeans back. :/ The stupid sizing is pissing me off. After wearing them for a few hours they feel too loose. I’m not sure if they’ll shrink or not… but with the vanity sizing these companies have done, and with the weight I’ve lost, I’m just totally confused what I should be wearing. I wish they had a simple chart that would tell you what size to buy based on what your measurements are. Screw generic sizes!!

not-so-thirty-something

...and thus begins my last year as a “thirty-something”. Of course merely saying that kind of puts the whole use of the phrase “thirty-something” to waste and gives away my age. Oh well.

I let too many days slip by without notice. Holidays included. It’s not good. Time passes too quickly to not be mindful of it. I think that’s one of the points of having a holiday – if for no other reason to notice the passage of time. I’m not having any kind of party. We probably won’t even go out to dinner. There’ll be no cake or candles. We really don’t have any specific plans until next week. The actual day of my birthday will be pretty uneventful. So, I’ll need to try and do something – if for no other reason so it doesn’t slip by unnoticed by even myself.

It’s kind of ironic, when did birthdays become so un-fun? Zachary walks through a grocery store and can pick out a dozen things he wants for his “next birthday” (yes, he just had his birthday). These presents he wants can range from things as simple as a box of cereal to as complicated as a trampoline. But even though it’s just barely a week past his birthday, the excitement for the next one is already building. But for me? I feel like something is missing. It’s not that I dread birthdays because of age (although I do dread getting older in general), it’s like there’s still that anticipation but for something that never comes.

I don’t know. I do know that I can probably learn a lot from this guy. I hope if I lived to be 113 I could be so eloquent.

I once made an abstract painting and titled it “The Universe is Expanding”

... because I can’t think of anything more abstract than the fact that the universe is expanding – and the fact that even though it’s expanding – it doesn’t have any boundaries. How can something that can’t be measured get bigger?

My father sent me another link to make my brain explode: Where is the center of the universe. And if the question alone doesn’t make your head spin, then the answer surely will (as do most answers relating to anything about the universe) – at least for me anyway. The answer is of course, there is no center.

(Although at least one of my kids might dispute this theory and insist that, no, there is in fact a center… and if you’re looking at them, then you’re looking right at it)

Hot Dwarves?

Sam just sent me the link to this video: Do you want to date my avatar?

I don’t know, it’s been a long time since I played World of Warcraft – but I played a frumpy dwarf with pigtails. I’m pretty sure no one wanted to date her. LOL!