Happy Halloween

My jack-o-lantern looks kind of unsure of himself. Or herself - she looks like Minnie Pearl: "HOW-DEEE!"

Sounds like the annual 17th Street High Heel Race was a hoot last night. I just didn't have it in me to go, instead I enjoyed carving out Minnie Pearl Pumpkin by myself on our (relatively) quiet street.

This morning I picked up a strange advertising insert in the Post and came across an interesting travel article about the Russian dacha custom of summer holiday living. Just as they gays have their summer beach house time share, the Russians have a small plot of land with a shack and garden out in the countryside. Since they live in extremely close quarters in the cities, the dacha is the refuge from such a compact social situation.

When I was in Kazakstan, Grampaw Crusty lived out at the dacha permanently, while ma, pa and the kids lived in the city apartment during the week, but visited the dacha on the weekends. At the dacha you garden, drink vodka, chill out in the sauna, and generally laze around. It was fun.

Our healthcare system Sux Donkey Dix: I got a prescription written for Ambien on October 12, as this time of year I get sleeping problems due to a combination of the dayperiod shrinking, and annual big-time deadlines at work. It's not a good combo, and I have a hard time getting to sleep sometimes. Anyway, since then the doctor's office, pharmacy, and insurance company has been passing the buck for weeks on getting this prescription covered. Each party blames the other one for the delay. So I spent a lot of time at work today hunting down the source of the problem: getting approval from the doctor's office via fax results in blank sheets being recieved at the insurance company. I.E. some queen doesn't know how to work a fax machine. Granted, in this day and age fax machines are a stupid way to ensure someone gets coverage for something, but what if it had taken three weeks to get antibiotics for an infection? I'd be dead by now, and the doctor's office, pharmacy, and insurance company would still be passing the buck. Our healthcare coverage system is certainly not in favor of the customer, and there is no accountability in the system.