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Sunday, December 27, 2009

RIP Vic Chesnutt

Vic Chesnutt is dead.

He talked about the Healthcare Debate on NPR recently with Terry Gross.


GROSS: I read that you're in debt like $50,000 because of health insurance issues.

Mr. CHESNUTT: That's right.

GROSS: So - and this is because you had a series of surgeries and although you pay a lot for your health insurance, it didn't cover all of it. Is that - do I have that right?

Mr. CHESNUTT: That's exactly true, yeah.

GROSS: Uh-huh. So, what are your thoughts now as you watch the health care legislation controversy play out?

Mr. CHESNUTT: Well, I have been amazed and confused by the health care debate. We need health care reform. There is no doubt about it, we really need health care reform in this country. Because it's absurd that somebody like me has to pay so much, it's just too expensive in this country. It's just ridiculously expensive. That they can take my house away for kidney stone operation is -that's absurd.

GROSS: Is that what you're facing the possibility of now?

Mr. CHESNUTT: Yeah. I mean, it could - I'm not sure exactly. I mean, I don't have cash money to pay these people. I tried to pay them. I tried to make payments and then they finally ended up saying, no, you have to pay us in full now. And so, you know, I'm not sure what exactly my options are. I just - I really - you know, my feeling is that I think they've been paid, they've already been paid $100,000 from my insurance company. That seems like plenty. I mean, this would pay for like five or six of these operations in any other country in the world. You know, it affects - I mean, right now I need another surgery and I've putting it off for a year because I can't afford it. And that's absurd, I think.

I mean, I could actually lose a kidney. And, I mean, I could die only because I cannot afford to go in there again. I don't want to die, especially just because of I don't have enough money to go in the hospital. But that's the reality of it. You know, I have a preexisting condition, my quadriplegia, and I can't get health insurance.

GROSS: Is it true you can't get good health insurance?

Mr. CHESNUTT: I can't get - I'm uninsurable. The only reason I have any insurance now is because I was on Capitol Records for a while. And I had excellent health insurance there. And then when I got dropped from Capitol, I Cobra's(ph) my insurance for as long as it was legally possible. And then - and which was insanely expensive to cobra this very nice insurance. And then, when that ran out, the insurance company said they could offer me one last thing and that is hospitalization. It only covers hospital bills. That's all it covers. And it's still $500 a month. So, it doesn't pay for my drugs, my doctors or anything like that. All it pays for is hospitalization. And yet, I still owe all this money on top of that.

GROSS: Wow. Well, I wish you the best with your health and your music. And I really want to thank you

Mr. CHESNUTT: Thank you.

GROSS: a lot for talking with us.

Mr. CHESNUTT: Oh, I'm honored, honored beyond belief.

Winter Holidays

The Winter Solstice Party went much better than anticipated this year. We managed a lightning fast clean up and cover up of most of the house and just hid the rest.

Christmas evening was spent with my family. I greatly regret my gift budget was not what I wanted it to be but I promise to do better for everyone next year. Dinner was roast duck, pork roast, green beans, thrice baked potatoes, sweet carrots, horrible wine, good olives, and home made nut cake, cookies and caramel flan for desert.

Yesterday was spent in Alabama, treasure hunting in antique malls and eventually taking MonsterMustDie's mother to eat at Cracker Barrel (her favorite) and shopping at Wallmart.
We finished the day by making it back to Atlanta in time for Silver Scream Spook Show, where we saw "Destroy All Monsters".

Tonight we were planning to see The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus but we can't theatre listings anywhere for it, so it looks like we're going to the new Sherlock Holmes instead.

My housemate is now off work until January. With pay.

and from Fussy:
"The greatest sin is judgment without knowledge." Kelsey Grammar
"Comedy is the most important thing in the world except for justice." Sigourney Weaver

Friday, December 18, 2009

The interesting weekend

Still cleaning the ruins. Bedroom is done. Main bath is done. Kitchen is mostly done. Lots of laundry going on - clothes, cleaning cloths, and sheets used to cover the big things.

Then morning a new leak over the couch appeared and the power went out due to the enormous tree that fell across our street this morning. Phoned the roofer, who had a man at the house to make a temporary patch within the hour. He was a ginger-bearded character who, when I peeked outside, was surfing on top of an SUV another person was driving to get to the lowest point of the roof, rather than just using a ladder. He was fast, polite, and seemed to have it capped when he left. Still, the SUV surfing had me amused.

As I left the house today, I saw the Power Company crew had the street closed off entirely and many large trucks and with bright flashing blinky lights were working on breaking down the fallen tree and putting up new power lines. The ginger-bearded roofer had already alerted me to the alternate route out of the neighborhood, past the school, so no problems there.

I hope the power is back on and the living room is dry by the time I get home.

The latest news is that I must go to Alabama the day after Christmas with Monstermustdie so he can help his mother buy a car that she probably has no business driving.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Party in the shambles

The house is a wreck today since the landlord chose this week to have part of the roof replaced on the house, starting today. The crew is originally scheduled to complete work on Friday evening but there is a great amount of rotten wood in the roof and ceiling that needs to be replaced. As I left this morning, my office ceiling was part open sky and everything indoors was covered in sawdust and black grit because we have no attic. I wish I had the foresight/warning to cover everything and move what I could downstairs to the basement.

The Winter Solstice Party might be a bit more casual than anticipated. I'll might just cover things with festive sheets and carry on.

Stuffed

Went with Monstermustdie to his company holiday employee appreciation dinner tonight at Canoe.

Great food. Good company and amusing conversation. I had delicious smoked salmon, roast duck two ways with root vegetables, and rosemary icecream on grannysmith apple pie. He had venison carpacio, oysters, and trout followed by a desert that was essentially a semisweet dark chocolate caramel truffle on steriods. I now have the coleslaw recipe I have dreamed of from a different party coming my way soon and I've promised to provide a CD of decadent southern gothic story telling to our host.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

keeping the fire alive

Dreary, gray, and wet outside. Working up the motivation to get out into the world this morning. I'll probably do a bit of shopping. There are a couple of things to look for. I'd like to find a couple of new ornaments for this years' tree. I know a place in Decatur that has some very cute glass robot and owl ornaments. Also, if anyone knows where I can find some pine cone ornaments, please let me know.

I'm also searching for Java Logs or a similar, unsmokey, close to environmentally approved fuel for the winter fireplace. Cold wet weather makes me want to sit in front a fire with the cat, hot mug in hand. We haven't yet had any fires here this season. It's past time for that first fire of the year.

I went to work yesterday and was immediately told there was nothing to do, but since I'd already spent the time, gasoline to get there and bought a to-go lunch to bring with me that I would not have purchased otherwise, I decided to spend a couple of hours filing old jobs away in the archives and checking on the status of those still floating in limbo.

Today will hopefully have a couple of things to do. Mondays and Fridays are always dead but the days in between usually offer some hope of activity.

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

THe Vendor - Client Relationship