{"id":2367,"date":"2018-04-25T00:42:28","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T00:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/?p=2367"},"modified":"2018-04-26T00:43:11","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T00:43:11","slug":"out-of-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/25\/out-of-control\/","title":{"rendered":"out of control"},"content":{"rendered":"

We had a nice day recently and I decided that my car needed washed. \u00a0I could have done it myself – I have a driveway, soap, and a hose – but I also had a coupon for a free car wash.<\/span><\/p>\n

And it was on my \u201clist of things to do that aren\u2019t super important but that I should eventually get around to doing\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So, after work, I headed to the car wash and realized that this was the first time I\u2019d gone to a car wash where I was the driver. \u00a0And solo, no less.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, I lead a sheltered life.<\/span><\/p>\n

I got my coupon scanned, pulled forward to the correct stop, and put my car in neutral. \u00a0And let the machines take over. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was loud, the suds made it impossible to see, and I was worried something was going to happen to my car. \u00a0And of course it was fine, but I was still unnerved by the experience. I skipped the complementary vacuum cleaners and just headed home. <\/span><\/p>\n

Just\u2026 didn\u2019t care for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

—————<\/span><\/p>\n

Also on my list of things to (don\u2019t make me retype that), was a trip to the eye doctor. \u00a0It\u2019s been a few years since I\u2019ve gone and my glasses are in terrible shape – so, I hit their website and pushed the button for Schedule an Appointment.<\/span><\/p>\n

I put in my name, phone number and the day, then clicked the next button. \u00a0Instead of taking me to a page to select a time, I got a note that said they would call me to finish the appointment.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, instead of at my convenience, it was now at theirs. Nice. <\/span><\/p>\n

The office called me a little later and got my info. \u00a0They also required my insurance information – which threw me off and I didn\u2019t have. \u00a0I dug through my wallet and couldn\u2019t find the card – and without it, they wouldn\u2019t make the appointment. \u00a0So, I said I would look it up and call them back.<\/span><\/p>\n

I went to UA\u2019s HR website and found the provider – then learned\/remembered that they don\u2019t issue cards. \u00a0I could go to the provider website and get my membership number.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I tried to do that. \u00a0I tried to create a new account, but apparently already had one. \u00a0I tried to reset my password, but didn\u2019t have an email address on file so they couldn\u2019t reset my password.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had to call them and they told me that my member number was the last four digits of my social security number. \u00a0I hung up with them, called the eye doctor back – and the day I wanted was suddenly all booked up.<\/span><\/p>\n

I picked a different day, gave them my provider info – they didn\u2019t need my number – and then gave them my name twice and what I needed (eye appointment, glasses) twice.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the day of the appointment I got a text telling me to be there 10 minutes early. \u00a0Nice.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I got there I had to fill up that HIPPA form again and go through all my info and tell them my provider. \u00a0Does no one write things down?<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw the tech pretty quickly and got the preliminary testing done. \u00a0Then I waited. And waited. And Waited. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, I had plenty of paper. \u00a0Finally, the door opened and\u2026 an intern came in. \u00a0She was maybe 14 years old, I think. <\/span><\/p>\n

She checked my eyes and did the \u201cbetter one or two, better two or three\u201d. \u00a0Then she used a prism to shine the sun directly into my eyes for a while – which was impressive considering it was raining outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

She left and I waited some more. \u00a0And more. And still more.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a full hour from my appointment time and\u00a0I was down to my last few sheets of paper when the doctor finally came in and did the same tests the intern did. \u00a0She said I might be headed towards glaucoma or bifocals – and suggested two pairs of glasses that I would have to swap back and forth when using a computer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sigh.<\/span><\/p>\n

The exam done, I was directed to pick out some new frames and even with my really great insurance it was still stupid expensive out of pocket. <\/span><\/p>\n

And then it was back out into the rain with a headache and partially dilated eyes. \u00a0\u00a0I went home and took a nap. In 7-10 days, I\u2019ll have new glasses and I\u2019m hoping I look amazing and can see through lead for all the trouble it was.<\/span><\/p>\n

—————————<\/span><\/p>\n

In both cases, I felt like I should have had more control. \u00a0Driving my car, using a computer, using…well\u2026 my eyes. I\u2019m okay when giving up control is my choice and when that happens I\u2019m pretty chill. \u00a0When it\u2019s taken away – and it\u2019s stupid (so stupid) – I don\u2019t do so well. <\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe I need some more art therapy?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We had a nice day recently and I decided that my car needed washed. \u00a0I could have done it myself – I have a driveway, soap, and a hose – but I also had a coupon for a free car wash. And it was on my \u201clist of things to do that aren\u2019t super important […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_bluesky_dont_syndicate":"","_bluesky_syndication_accounts":"","_bluesky_syndication_text":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2368,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367\/revisions\/2368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}