Words of Truth

I keep seeing posts on the internet referring to something called ‘Murica. It can also be spelled Merica, or Murrica. The first time I saw it, I assumed the poster was just abbreviating “America” and meant nothing specific by doing so (much like people say they were on their ‘puter instead of their computer, or they drive a Chevy instead of a Chevrolet).

But as I saw more posts, I realized that there IS an intent: mockery. Behind the usage of this word is the belief that Americans on the whole are fat, ignorant, lazy, stupid, gluttonous cretins. I’ve also heard the word used to refer specifically to certain people because of their status as Republicans, conservatives, or rednecks/country people; or to refer to the object’s patriotism or love of guns. It’s basically a new way for people who are the opposite of these things to laugh at those with whom they disagree.

So you liberal Democrat gun-hating city people who use this term? You aren’t being tolerant or “liberal” by insulting those with whom you disagree, you are just revealing your own prejudices. By mocking the citizens of our country with whom you disagree you are not advancing your own cause. You are in fact merely pointing out to other countries that some of us are arrogant blow-hards with superiority complexes. Your attitude screams “I’m better than THOSE people.” Guess what: you aren’t.

Do I cringe when Honey Boo-Boo commercials attack my eyes on occasion? Yes.
Do I enjoy all the things that people who live in the country enjoy (such as rodeo)? No.

Do I believe that these things are wrong or that most Americans are like the Boo-Boo family? Absolutely not. Do I think we should mock the Boo-Boo family or others because of their choices? No. Do I think we should generalize the behavior of a few people of low-intelligence and say it applies to our citizens in general? No.

Let’s examine the history of our country. Do you know who was from a rural area? US Senator Daniel Boone springs to mind. Also, almost all the founding fathers. Fat people? President/Chief Justice of the Supreme Court William Howard Taft. Ignorant? There are plenty of people in our history that didn’t understand things that had to be told, on BOTH sides of the political spectrum. Also, I understand that Abraham Lincoln was an avid NASCAR fan. OK, one of those things isn’t true.

And so, just as those who use a “funny” play-on-word like “Rethuglican”, “Democrap”, “Libtard”, or “Teabagger”, when I hear you say or post something about “Murica,” I’m a litte sad for you. And I think less of you.  So please stop.

I bought two 32gb iPhone 4’s on December 30th 2011. At that time I paid $29.99 for their “buy back program.” They explained to me at the time that if I returned the phone to Best Buy before the 2 year mark, I would get a certain percentage of the retail value of the phone back. They gave me a card with information about the program. On the card it says “Future-proof your technology with the buy back program” The card specifies that if I return my phone between 18 and 24 months, I get 20% of the original retail value. The original retail value of my phones is $800 each, so for each phone I return I should get back $160.

Just to clarify, the important words in that last sentence are “original retail value.” I only paid $100 per phone for these phones. I remember saying to the Best Buy salesman, “Let me get this straight: I’m paying you $100 per phone right now, and after using the phone for almost two years you are going to buy it back from me for $160 PER PHONE?” He said, “Yep.” I said, “That’s crazy, but OK, sign me up.”

So here we are, almost two years later. I am now able to upgrade my phone, so I went to the Noblesville Best Buy on Saturday to return my iPhone 4 and purchase an iPhone 5S. The employee told me that they were only going to give me $77 for my phone. When I said that wasn’t right, he called his manager “Steve” who confirmed that $77 is all they were going to give us. When I pointed out that $77 isn’t even 10% of $800, let alone the 20% I should be getting, Steve gave me a cold look and said, “Ok, give him another $3.” and he walked away. Just for future reference, Manager Steve is not on my Christmas list.

When I came home I did some further investigating. I found my original receipt along with a brochure they gave me when I bought the phone in 2011. It says they will pay me “up to 20% based on the condition of your phone.” It is in perfect working order, there are no scratches whatsoever because I’ve had it in an Otterbox for 22 months. So I called Best Buy customer service at 1-888-237-8289 and gave the short version of my problem. The woman on the phone seemed helpful, but then she hung up in the middle of her sentence. I can only assume it was unintentional. I called back and got a woman named Sam, who seemed nice, but she told me she had only been working there for two weeks, and she had never heard of this program. Could she please put me on hold while she investigated. Sure. After a few minutes of being on hold, I realized I had to be somewhere, so I hung up.

I called back later, and got a woman who spoke with an Indian accent and used incorrect grammar. She said something like, “Please to be telling me what is the problem you are having with the Best Buy.” I confess: I hung up.

I called right back, and got someone named “Sam.” I think it was the same Sam as before. She sounded the same, and when I gave the short version of my problem, she had the solution right at hand. She told me that Best Buy has two programs. They have the buy back program and the trade in program. With the “buy back” program you pay $30 extra when you purchase the phone to get a guaranteed percentage of your phone’s original retail value, and the “trade-in” program which doesn’t require an up front fee and applies no matter where you bought it. Evidently the problem Saturday was that the man helping me (and his manager) were putting me in their “trade-in” program instead of their “buy back” program. Evidently the root problem here was that the Best Buy retail employees didn’t know what they were doing.

Now I’m supposed to go back to Best Buy and tell them that I’m a member of the “buy back” program, and they need to give me my $160. Sam gave me some kind of membership number that applies directly to my phone purchase, so that should tell them there’s more to my story than “I want more money than you are willing to give me.” If they don’t, I guess I’ll have to call back again. Either way, I’ll let you know what happens.

EDIT: I just got back from Best Buy, and they processed my claim, no questions asked. I provided my original receipt, my original box along with the charger and earphones (which I never used). He did say I would have to get the $160 on a gift card, but I told him, “No problem. Just return my new phone and then apply the gift card to the new phone purchase.” And he did. So the problem is fixed. And now I have proof for when I go back with my wife’s old phone.

This guy has the right idea. We were talking in class today about a patient that needed an MRI because the physician saw all the signs of a tumor. She ordered the MRI but the insurance company wanted justification for why she wanted the MRI. She had to jump through hoops and provide all sorts of documentation before the insurance company would approve the MRI to find out 1. If he has a brain tumor, and 2. how extensive the tumor is.

This is a problem with our health care system right now. A doctor goes to school for eight years, then spends several more years in a residency program to learn about the body, the disease process, and how to effectively diagnose, manage, and/or cure different conditions. They bring all of this education and experience to bear….and then they hit the brick wall of a guy at an insurance company looking at a list of criteria for different conditions in a 3 ring binder (or whatever). Then this person who went through a six week training program looks at the doctor’s request for a test or procedure, and decides if the patient needs it (disclaimer: I don’t really know the process of becoming an insurance person that approves medical procedures, but I’m guessing it’s less than 12 years of medical school, etc).

That’s why I really like what Dr Ciampi is doing. He decided that he is tired of losing money to the middleman (insurance companies and the government), and he thinks his patients would rather pay him directly. He lost a couple hundred of his 2000 patients when he did this (about 10% by my math), but now his costs are way lower, his patient’s costs are way lower, he doesn’t have to ask permission from insurance companies to do what is best for his patients, and he doesn’t spend hours every week going over insurance forms and dealing with these companies (or paying someone to do this).

I hope that when I finish Nurse Practitioner school I can find a job working with a doctor like this. I’ve said for years that we need to go back to the time when you would call the doctor, and pay him with a chicken. I’m speaking figuratively of course, since most people don’t actually own chickens. But if you add up how much you pay in insurance premiums, copays, deductibles, etc, I’m guessing that most people would actually save money if they ditched their insurance company and just paid out of pocket.

This doesn’t address major medical issues, but for most people, this would work just fine. There is hope for our health care system, and it’s people like this that will make it work.

This weekend my mom and brother are coming to visit. At first it was going to be a weekend in which we would get to see them both, and I was going to take him to an Iowa Hawkeye game at Purdue.

But the weekend has morphed into “Sports Weekend.” The title of this post “Panem et circences” is Latin for “bread and circuses” which is something the Romans used to distract the people from their problems.  After two solid years of college and graduate school, I could use some bread and circuses.

No more papers. Not today.

Shortly thereafter they arrive, my brother and I are going to drive downtown to watch our first ever “in-person” NBA game (the Indiana Pacers vs the Toronto Raptors). I only wish the Bulls were playing. I didn’t even know the Raptors existed, because the last time I paid any attention to the NBA was the Bulls’ three-peat when I was in high school. I was so busy during college I didn’t even know until five minutes ago that the Bulls won ANOTHER three-peat in 1996-1998. Who knew? Anyway, we’re in the nosebleed section, so no chance of getting involved in any brawls (it IS the Pacers, after all). Should be fun.

We’re going to be pretty high up, so at least the Pacers have a big monitor, right?

Then Saturday morning we get up bright and early to head up to Lafayette, Indiana to watch the Purdue Boilermakers lose to the Iowa Hawkeyes. At least I hope. This will be my first ever NCAA football game, and people are telling me that we’re supposed to get there like four hours early or something. I wasn’t four hours early for my own wedding, I don’t know why I would be that early for a football game. My mom wasn’t even in labor with me for four hours, so there’s that.  The game isn’t until noon, and it takes 90 minutes to get there from my house. If I’m out of bed at 6am, we have a problem. Anyway, the tickets were wicked cheap (since it’s Purdue, after all). We’re four rows up from the field and the tickets only cost $15 each. If we sat up in the nosebleed section, we could have had tickets for $1.31 each. That’s how bad Purdue is, evidently. I hope this comment doesn’t come back to bite me on the rear, just in case the Hawkeyes lose.

Nobody wants to see this. Nobody.

The rest of Saturday (after the game) is just down time. Sunday morning we are going to church, and then my brother and I will be heading down to Lucas Oil Stadium to watch the Colts beat the Rams. I haven’t been to a Colts game in three years, so this should be fun.

Too bad we couldn’t fit any more sports into this weekend.