It seems like that since I started working full time as a web developer/programmer, I have neglected my own websites. It has been really bad over the past few years. I don’t even blog very much any more. I’ve basically been doing all of my ranting and raving on Twitter and Facebook and haven’t been giving my own websites any attention. I spend 8 hours (or 9 hours this summer) working on other people’s websites and don’t really wanna work on mine when I get home.

I’m trying to change that. I’ve deactivated my Facebook account, and I’m taking a break from Twitter for a while. I know I’ll eventually go back to Twitter, but as for Facebook, I’m not sure. I might reactivate my account and I might delete it completely … I just don’t know yet. Since I’m taking a break from social media, I’ll have more time on my hands, and I plan to use that time on my websites.

Tonite I put together a list of things that I want to do. They are (roughly in order that I want to accomplish them):

• Clean up the files I have on the server with my web host (get rid of stuff I’m no longer using).
• Clean up my database (again, get rid of stuff I’m no longer using).
• Decide what I want to do with the subdomains that I have set up (keep, redirect, or remove).
• Clean up my email accounts and forwarders (again, get rid of stuff I’m no longer using).
• Redesign the layout for this website.
• Start this site over from scratch in WP3 and import the posts and comments I have to this point.
• Possibly redesign the layout for my professional website.
• Start my professional website over from scratch using CodeIgniter.
• Do further development on the weather script I wrote a few years back.
• Possibly write a WP plugin based on my weather script (once I complete it).
• Blog more about the stuff that I’ve been doing at work with CodeIgniter.

That list should keep me busy for a while. LOL Now I just need to get myself to turn off the tv so I don’t have any distractions.

Wish me luck.

I’ve been waiting to upgrade my cell phone since the end of March. I currently have an LG eV2 on the Verizon network. I wanted to upgrade to a smart phone with internet access. The phone at the top of my list was the Motorola Droid. The Android operating system looks really sweet.

The main reason I was waiting was because getting the phone would require me to get a data plan of at least $30/month. I wasn’t sure I could afford it since I was planning on buying a car, and I was close to being eligible for health insurance (so that would be taken out of my paycheck).

I bought my car toward the end of April and made my first car payment this month. We switched to a new insurance company at work with a cheaper premium. After working the numbers, it’s clear that I’ll easily be able to cover the data plan.

My intention was to order the Droid today. I usually get my phones online with Verizon because it ends up being cheaper than getting one in the store. I get a $50 discount for the New Every Two program, and there is a $100 online discount. The discounts brought the price of the Droid down to $149.99. That is until today. I was on the site looking at phones one last time before buying one, and the site was running ungodly slow. I couldn’t even load up the pages for the Droid or the Droid Incredible. Needless to say, I was getting pissed. I tried again about 10-15 minutes later and things were running like normal. So I pulled up the phones and looked at things. Then I took a look at the price for the Droid. It was down to $99.99. I was confused for a bit until Twitter and a Google search confirmed that Verizon dropped the price on the Droid today. I’m sure glad I didn’t order it earlier today or last nite.

Then @stevedrees told me the Droid 2 is rumored to come out next month. I had seen a couple articles earlier today about the Droid 2, but none mentioned a release date. The pictures in those articles showed a keyboard that caught my eye. It looks a lot nicer that the Droid’s keyboard (which I don’t really like). The articles didn’t really have a whole lot of additional info other than pretty much saying the Droid 2 is just the next generation Droid.

Now I’m torn. I want a new phone now, and I’ve decided on the Droid. But I’ve already waited a little over 2 months since I became eligible for an upgrade … what’s another month. But when the Droid 2 comes out, it’s gonna cost more than what the Droid dropped to today. But how much more? I don’t know what to do.

If you were in my situation, what would you do? Would you wait for the Droid 2, which has an unknown release date but is rumored to be released next month, or would you get the Droid right now?

After much deliberation and waffling and driving myself (and I’m sure those around me) nuts, I believe I have found the car that I’m going to buy.

I decided early this year that I was going to get a new car. I currently have a 1997 Pontiac Grand Am. I’ve had it for almost 9 years (I’d hit 9 in July). I can’t roll down the driver’s side window … the motor is pretty much dead (would cost $300 to fix). The wiper switch is screwed up (has been since last summer). If I hit a bump, it sets off the wipers. And if I do need to turn the wipers on, I have to fiddle with the damn switch to get them to turn back off (and it would be another $300 to fix).

Since I first decided I wanted a new car, I was sure I wanted a Chevy Impala. I think part of it had to do w/ NASCAR (yes, I’m a silly girl). My uncle has 2 Impalas (one personal and one work), and another aunt and uncle have one as well. Both said they loved theirs and that they were good cars. I was also considering a Dodge Stratus. Robin has one, and it’s a nice car (I’ve ridden in it a time or 2 or 3 or 50). The only problem with that choice is that there really aren’t any around the area (and I’ve been looking in Fargo/Moorhead, Grand Forks, Detroit Lakes, and Wahpeton). I recently started to consider the Honda Accord. You just can’t overlook the Honda’s reliability.

I got a subscription for Consumer Reports online for a month to research things. As I said, my search was focused on the Impala, Stratus, and Accord. It was when I looked at the reports that I started to no be sure sure about the Impala anymore and starting considering the Accord a little more. But then again … I had my heart set on an Impala. I was seeing them all over town.

Continue reading »

In October 2008, I was laid off. That also meant that I lost my health insurance. Yes, I could have gotten the COBRA coverage, but I couldn’t afford that. I didn’t know how I was going to pay my bills or find another job, so how the hell was I going to afford the COBRA coverage?

I did find a contract job that I started in December 2008, but being that it was a contract job, I couldn’t get health insurance through it. The job lasted 4 months, and then I was unemployed again. I found another contract job that I started in May 2009. As with the other one, since it was a contract job, there was no insurance. This position was supposed to be a contract-to-hire position (6 month contract), but the company ended my contract early (due to financial reasons … they laid off 15 people the day after my contract ended).

Happily, I found a normal job (i.e. not a contract job) in November 2009. But due to company policy, I’m not eligible for health insurance until I’ve been working there for 6 months. I’ll hit that mark in May, so hopefully I’ll have insurance again shortly after that. Unless the insurance company makes me wait even longer since I’ve been without insurance for so damn long.

Other than the fact that I haven’t seen a doctor in I don’t know how long, I have chronic dry eye which means I need to take prescription eye drops … Restasis to be exact. These eye drops are NOT cheap.

I was first prescribed these eye drops back when I had health insurance through Medica. I only had to pay a $30 co-payment for the eye drops … Medica covered the rest. That was acceptable. The company I worked for that I had the Medica insurance through closed their doors, but the client we had been working for hired me on directly. But that meant a lapse of 2 months in my insurance. Once I had insurance again, it was through Blue Cross Blue Shield of ND. With them, I had to pay a $60 co-payment for the same damn eye drops. I guess Blue Cross needed to pay for their corporate retreats somehow. But still … at least it wasn’t full price.

When I got laid on in October 2008, it was up to me to foot the entire bill for the eye drops. I couldn’t afford that, so I stopped refilling the prescription. I couldn’t take it anymore this past summer, so I went back to the eye doctor in July 2009 to get the prescription again. I called around town, and the cheapest I could find it was at White Drug in CashWise.

One refill (of 30 vials) was $108.94. The vials are single use vials, meaning I’m supposed to open them, put them in my eyes, and throw the rest away. And I’m supposed to do this twice a day. That means 2 vials per day … 2 refills a month … $217.88 A MONTH. Oh HELL NO. My eye doctor told me that I could stretch a single vial out over 2 days. That means I can stretch one refill for 2 months rather than half a month. There is definitely enough of the eye drops in a vial to cover 4 applications. So the drug company who makes these eye drops (Allergan) puts enough of the eye drops in one vial to last for 2 days, but they want me to use it one time and then toss the rest away and end up having to spend more than $200 a month out of my own pocket since I don’t have insurance. Screw you.

And if that’s not bad enough, the cost of the refill has been going up every 4 months, like clockwork. I checked my records today …

• July 2009 — $108.94
• September 2009 — $108.94
• November 2009 — $119.84
• January 2010 — $119.84
• March 2010 — $124.55

Are you fucking kidding me? $125 for a 15 day supply of eye drops (if you follow the recommended dosage instructions). That’s $250 a month … $250 a month. No wonder I stretch one vial out for 4 doses rather than 1.

From what I understand of the new health care bill that Congress passed yesterday, I will be fined if I don’t have health insurance. So if the bill was already in effect, I would have been fined ever since October 2008. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me. You’re going to make me pay a fine because I don’t have enough money to pay for health insurance? I’m sorry, but that’s fucked up. It’s a good thing that doesn’t go into effect right away. Hopefully within 2 months I’ll have health insurance. I don’t know what I’ll end up paying for these eye drops once I do get insurance again, but any little bit helps, especially when they keep raising the prices every 4 months.

One thing that I hope the health care bill will do is prevent the drug companies from raising the cost of prescriptions so damn often. Pretty soon, one refill is going to cost $200 if the drug company has their way. This is a prescription that I need. I went without it for several month only to have my eyes get so dry that it felt like I stuck my face in the sand with my eyes open. The eye drops are working. I was able to wear my contacts this weekend for the first time in over a year. I have to keep using them. The cost of them shouldn’t prohibit me from getting them.

I guess only time will tell if the health care bill is actually a good thing or not (I have my doubts), but I really hope it is. I know that there are people in worse situations health/insurance wise than I am. Something needs to be done. I just hope this bill helps more than it hurts.

If you know me (either IRL or online), you know that I’m a NASCAR fan. I am a passionate NASCAR fan. I am a fan of Dale Earnhardt Jr, Martin Truex Jr, Brad Keselowski, Paul Menard, and Scott Riggs. I will always stand behind my drivers, but if they do something stupid, I’ll call ‘em out on it.

I’ve been upset after a race before. I’ve been pissed at some driver or another or just at the dumb luck that has befallen one (or more) of my drivers. But I’ve NEVER in my life been so pissed off and worked up as I was after today’s race. At one point I was even in tears because I was so upset.

The incident in question: lap 323 …

Continue reading »