Small Talk: Cup O' Joe

[Kemper]

We started watching it...like it but haven't finished it yet.  Netflix kind of stresses me out...I keep scrolling through stuff and then can't make up my mind.  Mr. Kemper will watch anything.

[teddysmom]

15 hours ago, Kemper said:

We started watching it...like it but haven't finished it yet.  Netflix kind of stresses me out...I keep scrolling through stuff and then can't make up my mind.  Mr. Kemper will watch anything.

My sister kept nagging me to watch it and last week I was off work and could not take cable news so I turned it on.  I could not stop watching it.

I just love it. It's not "as" funny as my other favorite show now "What We Do In The Shadows", as far as just lmao funny, but it's so sweet and silly. And my best friend's husband is basically Daniel Levy's American doppelganger.  

How about the second episode re the town sign?   

I agree re Netflix. I rarely just watch something I come across.  The Crown was great, and  Dead To Me is pretty good, Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini.  Mindhunters is really good, about the origins of the FBI profilers.  They use actual serial murder cases but then fictionalize it, it's based on a book by an FBI agent. 

[stormy]

Mueller should be subpoenaed to testify in front of Congress even if it's behind closed doors.

The report is being made a mockery and lied about everyday by it's #1 subject. Democrats should whip it out and and quote from it.

[PennyPie18]

8 minutes ago, stormy said:

Mueller should be subpoenaed to testify in front of Congress even if it's behind closed doors.

The report is being made a mockery and lied about everyday by it's #1 subject. Democrats should whip it out and and quote from it.

You know, after Mueller's appearance ,when he emphatically stated he would not speak about the report, I couldn't help but wonder.....is this an example of staying true to your party? He is a Republican, and he didn't really go after Barr very aggressively for his "conclusion" or how much info was redacted. Such a disappointment. 

[teddysmom]

Re the Medicare for all scare tactics that Joe seems to delight in: 

 Joe and the other don't understand, or won't bother to educate themselves, or they just get off on scaring people.  It's cheaper for employers to be in a giant pool of insureds, and this "you'll lose your doctor" is the same stuff that was used to scare people with the ACA.  

Anybody looked at a hospital bill lately and seen what they get away with?  I had to have a series of rabies shots two years ago. Shots. $23,000 was the cost.  No expensive tests, no specialists. Just a tetanus shot and the rabies series. And get this, if I didn't have insurance the hospital would have written off half of it. So don't tell me they're going to go broke with MFA.   

Right now I pay $70 every two weeks for medical health insurance. Medicare is $135 a month.  So the premium is a little less.  Medicare deductible annually is $185, mine is $3000.  Who on employer insurance has a $185 annual deductible?  Oh and I have a $3500 deductible for prescriptions.  This is Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield.  

Doctors want MFA patients when there are so many of them that it isn't worth it not to see them. My father had Medicare when he was 65 and he saw the same doctor we all went to when I was a little kid, til the day he died.  Yes there are capitation rates, but that's because docs have such a large pool of patients they can afford to take a lower rate, just like they do now with every health insurance carrier.  And not all doctors are in all health insurance plans, so if your employer switches, you're in the same boat.  

[Eliot]

3 minutes ago, teddysmom said:

Anybody looked at a hospital bill lately and seen what they get away with?  I had to have a series of rabies shots two years ago. Shots. $23,000 was the cost.  No expensive tests, no specialists. Just a tetanus shot and the rabies series. And get this, if I didn't have insurance the hospital would have written off half of it. So don't tell me they're going to go broke with MFA.  

OMG, are you me? I LITERALLY came here to post the exact same scenario! I just finished a series of rabies shots and the market cost was $23,000. But because of the "negotiated discount" with my insurance company (which is the BIGGEST problem with healthcare right now; there's no such thing as a "rack rate" for medical services because discounts are built into the pricing structure), it ended up being far, far less.

[teddysmom]

8 minutes ago, Eliot said:

OMG, are you me? I LITERALLY came here to post the exact same scenario! I just finished a series of rabies shots and the market cost was $23,000. But because of the "negotiated discount" with my insurance company (which is the BIGGEST problem with healthcare right now; there's no such thing as a "rack rate" for medical services because discounts are built into the pricing structure), it ended up being far, far less.

OMG what happened to you? I was bitten by a young possum who was in my cat's enclosure. I stuck my hand in to get her food dish and he nipped me in the muscle under my thumb. At 10:30 at night. I went to ER around 11, got home at 4:30 AM. 

I just had to pay my deductible. But because of a mixup with insurance (they had wrong birthday on my card) the hospital ran the first bill thru as uninsured. So the first shots, tetanus, gamma globulin and the rabies injections in the bite site, was $10,000. And that was just the shots, not the ER doctors, who bill separately because it couldn't be a bigger racket.  You work for the fucking hospital!!  

And the hospital wrote off half of it and sent a letter saying how I could get Medicaid or financial aid to pay the bill.  

[Eliot]

Just now, teddysmom said:

OMG what happened to you? I was bitten by a young possum who was in my cat's enclosure. I stuck my hand in to get her food dish and he nipped me in the muscle under my thumb. At 10:30 at night. I went to ER around 11, got home at 4:30 AM. 

I just had to pay my deductible. But because of a mixup with insurance (they had wrong birthday on my card) the hospital ran the first bill thru as uninsured. So the first shots, tetanus, gamma globulin and the rabies injections in the bite site, was $10,000. And that was just the shots, not the ER doctors, who bill separately because it couldn't be a bigger racket.  You work for the fucking hospital!!  

And the hospital wrote off half of it and sent a letter saying how I could get Medicaid or financial aid to pay the bill.  

A bat came down my chimney and into the house. I thought I had it safely trapped in my home office (it happened at 11 p.m. on Memorial Day eve so I couldn't get anyone out to dispose of it), but it somehow found its way into my bedroom in the middle of the night. I didn't have any contact with it as far as I know, but when I called my vet to see if my cat needed a booster she told me that because it was in the room when I was asleep it was impossible to tell whether or not it had bitten me.  So I went through the full series - 7 shots spaced over four visits; what a hassle.

I didn't mind the needles (shots don't bother me), but the vaccine itself knocked the shit out of me. It was an exhausting treatment.

[teddysmom]

16 minutes ago, Eliot said:

A bat came down my chimney and into the house. I thought I had it safely trapped in my home office (it happened at 11 p.m. on Memorial Day eve so I couldn't get anyone out to dispose of it), but it somehow found its way into my bedroom in the middle of the night. I didn't have any contact with it as far as I know, but when I called my vet to see if my cat needed a booster she told me that because it was in the room when I was asleep it was impossible to tell whether or not it had bitten me.  So I went through the full series - 7 shots spaced over four visits; what a hassle.

I didn't mind the needles (shots don't bother me), but the vaccine itself knocked the shit out of me. It was an exhausting treatment.

Yeah the nurses told me bats were the worst.  I think it's bats, foxes, raccoons for the primary carriers. 

I took the enclosure the possum was in (it's just a large dog carrier, the plastic ones with the handle) and turned it upside down outside my patio, the possum just took off into the woods. But I had one person tell me "why didn't you try to find it and have it tested". I just looked at him like,  "let's unpack this. It's 11 pm and I'm supposed to go out in the woods and try to coax the one possum out of the several out there, to come to me so I can take him to a lab and get him tested", and then wait while the chance of rabies kills me? 

I had to have the first two shots in the muscle below my thumb. It was like having a nail jabbed into my hand. It hurt like hell. The doctor told me to cuss all I wanted, no one was around. Then I had to wait to be sure I didn't have a reaction.  The next three were done each week at the hospital in my arm.  The nurse told me rabies vaccines were one of the most expensive drugs there are.  It's so ridiculous. And then the wait. Four hours. No one else in the ER, but it's like they get paid by the hour or something. I was laying on the bed watching Modern Family or the coverage of the Las Vegas shooting (it had happened the night before).  Good times. 

I got home and yelled at my cat "Do you think maybe you could warn me or guard your food so I don't get bit while you take a nap." :)

[Landsnark]

58 minutes ago, teddysmom said:

I had to have a series of rabies shots two years ago. Shots. $23,000 was the cost.  No expensive tests, no specialists. Just a tetanus shot and the rabies series.

Me Too
But my insurance made the payments roughly $800.  manageable.  Also, if you were truly poor and couldn't afford rabies, the CDC will pay.  Rabies is no fucking joke.  A normal healthy adult could be an unknowing vector and wipe out a community.  100% fatal, very contagious, no symptoms for months.

36 minutes ago, Eliot said:

A bat came down my chimney and into the house. I thought I had it safely trapped in my home office (it happened at 11 p.m. on Memorial Day eve so I couldn't get anyone out to dispose of it), but it somehow found its way into my bedroom in the middle of the night. I didn't have any contact with it as far as I know, but when I called my vet to see if my cat needed a booster she told me that because it was in the room when I was asleep it was impossible to tell whether or not it had bitten me.  So I went through the full series - 7 shots spaced over four visits; what a hassle.

HOLY SHIT!  THAT IS MY STORY!!!!
If you are hammered drunk (my story) or old or an infant, and you wake up with a bat in your bedroom you must get the shots.  Our friend worked for the CDC, and freaked out to the level that we went to the emergency room and got the shots.  I captured and released the bat.  Foul, disgusting, horrific creature.  Ladder, first baseman's mitt, fishing net, hat, mask of Liverpool's soccer coach, long sleeves.

[teddysmom]

7 minutes ago, Landsnark said:

1 hour ago, teddysmom said:

I had to have a series of rabies shots two years ago. Shots. $23,000 was the cost.  No expensive tests, no specialists. Just a tetanus shot and the rabies series.

Me Too
But my insurance made the payments roughly $800.  manageable.  Also, if you were truly poor and couldn't afford rabies, the CDC will pay.  Rabies is no fucking joke.  A normal healthy adult could be an unknowing vector and wipe out a community.  100% fatal, very contagious, no symptoms for months.

50 minutes ago, Eliot said:

A bat came down my chimney and into the house. I thought I had it safely trapped in my home office (it happened at 11 p.m. on Memorial Day eve so I couldn't get anyone out to dispose of it), but it somehow found its way into my bedroom in the middle of the night. I didn't have any contact with it as far as I know, but when I called my vet to see if my cat needed a booster she told me that because it was in the room when I was asleep it was impossible to tell whether or not it had bitten me.  So I went through the full series - 7 shots spaced over four visits; what a hassle.

HOLY SHIT!  THAT IS MY STORY!!!!
If you are hammered drunk (my story) or old or an infant, and you wake up with a bat in your bedroom you must get the shots.  Our friend worked for the CDC, and freaked out to the level that we went to the emergency room and got the shots.  I captured and released the bat.  Foul, disgusting, horrific creature.  Ladder, first baseman's mitt, fishing net, hat, mask of Liverpool's soccer coach, long sleeves.

Okay I'm suggesting we start a new thread, "Morning Joe Rabies Stories". 

[dubbel zout]

25 minutes ago, teddysmom said:

Okay I'm suggesting we start a new thread, "Morning Joe Rabies Stories". 

We'll consider it. 😉

[Eliot]

30 minutes ago, teddysmom said:

Okay I'm suggesting we start a new thread, "Morning Joe Rabies Stories". 

SERIOUSLY! What are the odds?

Quote

Our friend worked for the CDC, and freaked out to the level that we went to the emergency room and got the shots.  I captured and released the bat.  Foul, disgusting, horrific creature.  Ladder, first baseman's mitt, fishing net, hat, mask of Liverpool's soccer coach, long sleeves. 

My vet literally shouted at me when I told her I hadn't been to the ER yet. Scared the crap out of me so I hustled right over!

I was too scared to try to catch the bat. I closed off both rooms and stuffed towels underneath the door cracks and paid extra to have a bat catcher come out on Memorial Day to try to trap it. He couldn't find it, so we just opened a couple of windows and waited for it to fly out on its own. I spent an entire week huddled in my guest room with my cat, watching my Nest cam for signs of activity.

I never actually saw the bat leave, but I did see it crawl out of its hiding place and flap around my bedroom. Yuck.

[teddysmom]

Best Bat Capture Story EVER

[Landsnark]

1 hour ago, Eliot said:

paid extra to have a bat catcher come out

An exterminator came out and said, "We don't catch bats."  We asked if he would go to the ER.  He said "I'd have already been.  You can't feel their bite even if you're awake. Their teeth are so small and sharp that the bite is minimal, and there is something in their saliva that closes and anesthetizes the wound."
It's a hell of an ER discussion with the doc.  How much is your life worth?  $15k?  $10k?  $20k?  I'm sure the doc was amused, as he wasn't concerned and presumably thought we were hyperventilating yuppie bat newbs with more money than sense.
(hm, but we're no longer yuppies.  we're old and no longer upwardly mobile.  Mature established professionals? Meppies?)

[teddysmom]

1 minute ago, Landsnark said:

An exterminator came out and said, "We don't catch bats."  We asked if he would go to the ER.  He said "I'd have already been.  You can't feel their bite even if you're awake. Their teeth are so small and sharp that the bite is minimal, and there is something in their saliva that closes and anesthetizes the wound."
It's a hell of an ER discussion with the doc.  How much is your life worth?  $15k?  $10k?  $20k?  I'm sure the doc was amused, as he wasn't concerned and presumably thought we were hyperventilating yuppie bat newbs with more money than sense.
(hm, but we're no longer yuppies.  we're old and no longer upwardly mobile.  Mature established professionals? Meppies?)

The doctor was trying to talk you out of the vaccines?  Every med & vet professional I've talked to said NEVER fuck with rabies. Esp with bats! 

He sounds like the ER doc I had after a kidney stone who told me to take "Ibuprofen, you know Tylenol." This idiot was reading out of a goddamn pharmaceutical reference pocket paperback and couldn't even get it right.  I told him Ibuprofen was Advil.  

And they wonder why people don't go to the doctor. 

[teddysmom]

1 hour ago, Eliot said:

I never actually saw the bat leave, but I did see it crawl out of its hiding place and flap around my bedroom. Yuck.

Do you watch the new FX show "What We Do in The Shadows", about the vampires? One episode one of them turns into a bat in his neighbor's bedroom and the wife comes in and beats the hell out of it with a broom and then calls animal control and he ends up in a cage at the shelter trying to get the cats to rise up with him and escape. 

Maybe it wasn't a bat, maybe it was a vampire!! :)

It is seriously the funniest thing on tv right now. 

Edited June 28, 2019 by teddysmom

[Eliot]

7 minutes ago, teddysmom said:

The doctor was trying to talk you out of the vaccines?  Every med & vet professional I've talked to said NEVER fuck with rabies. Esp with bats!

It is literally in the CDC guidelines that you NEED to get the shots! They took it really seriously and even had the Department of Health contact me to take a report.

teddysmom, I'll have to watch that.

The coda to my bat story was that because I didn't actually see the bat leave my home, I wasn't 100% sure it flew out the open window that night. So I continued to sleep in the guest room for like a week, watching my Nest cam. Interestingly, moths and flies look a LOT like bats when you have night vision enabled, so I was convinced the bat was still in my room and paid for a second visit from the bat catcher but all he caught was a moth. The bat was long gone.

Edited June 28, 2019 by Eliot

[teddysmom]

2 minutes ago, Eliot said:

teddysmom, I'll have to watch that.

Cool!! 

[PennyPie18]

Thanks to all of you for sharing your terrifying stories of rabid animals and their bites. Pretty scary stuff, but lesson learned: Don't fuck with rabies, and one I will share with my family. Hope you all are healed and feeling better.

[Eliot]

In the Episodes thread, Millennium said this:

Quote

It's important that people feel they have a choice, even if the options are limited.   I have AFA healthcare managed by my state.   I'm satisfied with it.   I have three carriers to choose from.   It isn't much but I do like having a choice.   I would NOT like being told "this is your plan, get used to it because there's no alternative" which would be the case with Medicare for All.

When you say you like having "choice," what do you mean by that? Do you mean you like being able to choose your doctors? Because it's my understanding that under all of the M4A proposals the whole concept of networks just goes away.

One of the comments made on the show today was, "People don't like their insurance plans; they like their doctors," so I'm wondering if it's the same idea.

[millennium]

21 minutes ago, Eliot said:

In the Episodes thread, Millennium said this:

When you say you like having "choice," what do you mean by that? Do you mean you like being able to choose your doctors? Because it's my understanding that under all of the M4A proposals the whole concept of networks just goes away.

One of the comments made on the show today was, "People don't like their insurance plans; they like their doctors," so I'm wondering if it's the same idea.

Everyone I know on Medicare complains about doctors (usually in smaller practices) who refuse to take Medicare because they can't make enough money off Medicare patients. 

The doctors who do accept Medicare probably do so because their pool of private insurance patients keeps them profitable enough to be able to accept Medicare too.

But what happens when private insurance is eliminated?  When all patients coming through the door are paying at Medicare rates and doctors and hospitals can no longer make the kind of money they're accustomed to?

Substandard care?  Practices closing?  Fewer men and women choosing medicine as a career? 

No one seems to have a very reassuring answer.

P.S. I don't really get to choose my doctors.   I am given a list of doctors on my plan, and that's who I can see.  If I go out of network, it's mine to pay 100%.

What I meant by choice was being given three or four carriers to choose from -- not just one, the U.S. government, which would be the case with Medicare For All.   

Edited June 28, 2019 by millennium

[Eliot]

1 minute ago, millennium said:

Everyone I know on Medicare complains about doctors (usually in smaller practices) who refuse to take Medicare because they can't make enough money off Medicare patients. 

The doctors who do accept Medicare probably do so because their pool of private insurance patients keeps them profitable enough to be able to accept Medicare too.

But what happens when private insurance is eliminated?  When all patients coming through the door are paying at Medicare rates and doctors and hospitals can no longer make the kind of money they're accustomed to?

Substandard care?  Practices closing?  Fewer men and women choosing medicine as a career? 

No one seems to have a very reassuring answer.

I've heard that about Medicaid. I have not heard that about Medicare, so that's new info to me. From what I can see, everyone I know who is on Medicare loves it.

Healthcare pricing is screwed up in general. I think one of the things that throws healthcare out of whack and makes it less attractive to accept Medicare patients is the whole "negotiated rate" concept. Big insurers negotiate discounts with hospitals and medical practices and the practitioners then turn around and jack up rates for out-of-network services to make up for the discounts. There's no transparency so you can't even "shop" for services (as if you have that option when you're in a screaming ambulance on the way to the closest hospital) because you don't know the true cost.

[teddysmom]

21 minutes ago, millennium said:

If I go out of network, it's mine to pay 100%.

Wow. We can see out of network but we just pay a higher co pay vs in network.  Like 90% vs 80%.  Around here most people have doctors on Anthem, it's a huge carrier in Indpls. 

[Eliot]

Quote

What I meant by choice was being given three or four carriers to choose from -- not just one, the U.S. government, which would be the case with Medicare For All.   

My employer only offers one plan. Not sure if that's the norm in the US or what.

[millennium]

12 minutes ago, Eliot said:

My employer only offers one plan. Not sure if that's the norm in the US or what.

It has been many years since I worked for anyone but myself, so I hadn't considered that.   But for the sake of argument, if you were dissatisfied with the healthcare plan you receive from your employer, you have the freedom to seek out another employer who offers better/different insurance.   I think the idea of having options is important to Americans, even if they have no need to exercise them. 

[stormy]

I had no problem with Medicare till we became snowbirds. Our MN Blue Cross Blue Shield would not work living in two different states.

We switched to an HMO with Humana. The HMO saves us a lot of money but finding a doctor and especially a dentist was maddening. And yeah, we can go out of network but have to pay dearly.

Course doesn't help that the six months in FL are in Sanibel which is is basically Yehuppitzville

Edited June 28, 2019 by stormy

[cased]

I’m not quite at the Medicare age yet, but I have do have experience from trying to help my Dad before he passed away. He was in some sort of Medicare HMO, and it was maddening to me, because when he was discharged from the hospital he had to go back to his primary care physician to get referrals to see the same doctors that had been treating him in the hospital. 

[Kemper]

My husband and I have Medicare as our primary and Blue Cross/Blue Shield as our secondary;  we have never had a problem in doctor choice; our prescriptions are really inexpensive.  But we pay a little over $700(!) a month...never pay a co-pay, never pay a hospital bill (Mr. Kemper has ongoing heart issues and has a stent).  Mr. Kemper is a retired federal employee and I am on his policy (mine was more expensive).  

All the women in my coffee group have Medicare as primary; their secondary insurance(s) vary.  Some have Blue Cross, a lot do not...one has AARP (I think)...another has maybe Humana. But none of them has ever had a problem with doctor choice.

Look, I know this is a volatile issue...we all have opinions and choices; it is nice to hear about everyone's experiences, pro and con re Medicare for All.  I am all for it; my son has MS and pays a huge amount for insurance; a lot of times he has to write letters challenging his provider's decision to deny a new drug treatment.  He is not alone.  

It is nice to know that so many people are happy with their insurance  And you should be able to keep it if you desire.  I have to wonder why more corporations and businesses are not on the bandwagon for Medicare for All...it would surely save them a lot of money if their employees got their insurance elsewhere.  Maybe the real choice would be the secondary insurance and that is where employers would come in.

Again...just my opinion; and I really don't have much of any insight into the pros and cons.  My only wish is that everyone have affordable coverage with good (great) doctors.

[cased]

1 hour ago, Kemper said:

My husband and I have Medicare as our primary and Blue Cross/Blue Shield as our secondary;  we have never had a problem in doctor choice; our prescriptions are really inexpensive.  But we pay a little over $700(!) a month...never pay a co-pay, never pay a hospital bill (Mr. Kemper has ongoing heart issues and has a stent).  Mr. Kemper is a retired federal employee and I am on his policy (mine was more expensive).  

.

I'm a federal employee, and I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield as my insurance. When I retire and I'm eligible for Medicare, I will have  the same insurance setup that you have now (although, since I am single, I probably won't pay $700 a month).

1 minute ago, cased said:

Edited June 29, 2019 by cased
I accidentally quoted myself

[XOQueens]

Lol this thread is giving me a panic attack. Why is insurance is so complicated. 

[cased]

1 hour ago, XOQueens said:

Lol this thread is giving me a panic attack. Why is insurance is so complicated. 

I agree that insurance needs to be way simpler, but I’m more freaked out about the bats coming down the chimney. One of my fears in life has been the possibility of a bird falling down my chimney, but I never considered the possibility of rabid bats. 

[Kemper]

A bat got into our bedroom once many years ago (our kids were still teen/pre-teen).  It flew over my head (luckily I had not been asleep); I shrieked...Mr. Kemper knows the shriek drill...and he woke to full alert.  I put a pillow over my face while Mr. Kemper drove the narrative on where the bat was.  It finally rested on top of the curtain rod.  I ran out of the bedroom (slamming the door behind me), down the stairs and grabbed a broom (all the while with a sheet over my head).  I ran back upstairs, tossed the broom into the room and slammed the door again. Mr. Kemper quietly slid the window open and "broomed" the bat out.  My Hero.  

All this was accomplished while our dog was barking, the cat was puffed up to twice it's size and the kids were alternately shrieking and cheering on their Dad.

[Eliot]

9 hours ago, cased said:

I agree that insurance needs to be way simpler, but I’m more freaked out about the bats coming down the chimney. One of my fears in life has been the possibility of a bird falling down my chimney, but I never considered the possibility of rabid bats. 

I thought it was a bird at first. It still freaked me out. I ran screaming out of the house and stood in my porch shrieking (at 11 pm). My next door neighbor came rushing over to see what was going on and I was like, “A bird came down my chimney! A bird came down my chimney!” and she was all, “Oh, honey...I’m pretty sure that wasn’t a bird. And there are probably more.”

yah, I didn’t sleep well that night.

[stormy]

11 hours ago, cased said:

I'm a federal employee, and I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield as my insurance. When I retire and I'm eligible for Medicare, I will have  the same insurance setup that you have now (although, since I am single, I probably won't pay $700 a month).

This is exactly what  we did. We had MN BC/BS premium. It was great until we became snowbirds. As I posted above.

And as someone already posted, Medicare is not free. In fact the first year we went on Social Security and Medicare, we had to pay a higher rate because we had made too much money the previous year. After one year that was readjusted to reflect our income.

[Kemper]

I have always thought Donny D was a pig .  Remember him gifting Meeka the shoes and her cooing over them? It is not all on him in this case.

I had never heard the "Cosby Pill" story.  When you think about it, MSNBC has a few of the  most "macho" commentators on the air...Joe, Donny, Chris come to immediate mind.  In their own way they are almost ("almost" being the operative word) as bad as a few on another network whose name shall not be mentioned.

But if MSNBC decides to put some of these guys out to pasture with maybe occasional appearances...I hope they don't replace them with The Blands.  This would almost be worse...KC/DC comes to mind.

Sorry for the negativity this morning...we are going to have one of our cats put to sleep tomorrow; I am dreading the idea of this farce of a parade and lastly...we are going to a cookout this afternoon/evening and I have to bring "something to share" when all I want to do is lie on the sofa and watch Midsomer Murders on Netflix...comfort food.  Maybe I will send Mr. Kemper with a bucket of KFC.  Winning.

Totally shallow end...I noticed in one of the Donnie quotes someone above posted...he used "lay" instead of "lie"...or vice versa.

[stormy]

Sorry about your cat, Kemper 😔

[suomi]

So, so sorry to hear about your cat-child, Kemper, decisions like that are The Worst. Sending a virtual hug your way. 

[Jordan Baker]

I'm so sorry about your cat, Kemper. So sad. Take care of yourself.

I too like Midsomer Murders. We watch it on one of our local PBS stations. It is comforting, although it seems to be getting a bit more violent as time goes on. 

[PennyPie18]

3 hours ago, Kemper said:

Thanks for the sympathy for my kitty.

It's hard to let our pets go, isn't it? But you gave her a good life....try to focus on that.

[oakville]

Sorry to hear about your cat Kemper. It's sad to lose a member of your family.

[Eliot]

Oh, Kemper, I’m so sorry. I went through that last fall. I cried harder than I did when my mom died (and I loved my mom).

It is just the worst.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Eliot

[Landsnark]

On 7/4/2019 at 9:59 AM, Kemper said:

we are going to have one of our cats put to sleep tomorrow; I am dreading the idea of this farce of a parade and lastly...we are going to a cookout this afternoon/evening and I have to bring "something to share" when all I want to do is lie on the sofa and watch Midsomer Murders

A few years ago one of our cats got a steroid shot from an irresponsible vet that ultimately killed him.  I work from home, so I'd spent very nearly every hour of his life with him.  20 minutes after I dropped him off at the vet I got the call and it was devastating.  For weeks I thought I would never get past it.  I still grieve over the unfairness of it, of how terrified, confused and alone he must have been at the end.  He was a super great, really weird cat and he deserved so so much more.
Secondarily, Midsomer Murders!  I know almost every word to all 20 seasons that I've seen.  I have probably seen every episode 8+ times.

[Eliot]

I'm going to Nantucket next week! Any messages for Joe and Mika if I happen to run into them? Should I ask Meeks for a signed copy of her book? Should I "go up to Joe in the street" and ask him what he thinks about world affairs?

My brother in law saw them in town a couple of years ago and I was very mad that wasn't with him and didn't get the chance to ask them these important questions.

[oakville]

37 minutes ago, Eliot said:

I'm going to Nantucket next week! Any messages for Joe and Mika if I happen to run into them? Should I ask Meeks for a signed copy of her book? Should I "go up to Joe in the street" and ask him what he thinks about world affairs?

My brother in law saw them in town a couple of years ago and I was very mad that wasn't with him and didn't get the chance to ask them these important questions.

That's awesome!. I used to go to Cape Cod every year when I was growing up. I think we only went to Natucket once.

I would carry copies of Mika's books & have a pen ready to get her autograph.

I suspect Joe will have several security staff around him due to the constant request for his opinions on all topics.

Edited July 12, 2019 by oakville

[teddysmom]

2 hours ago, Eliot said:

I'm going to Nantucket next week! Any messages for Joe and Mika if I happen to run into them? Should I ask Meeks for a signed copy of her book? Should I "go up to Joe in the street" and ask him what he thinks about world affairs?

My brother in law saw them in town a couple of years ago and I was very mad that wasn't with him and didn't get the chance to ask them these important questions.

Go up to Mika and say " You look familiar. Did you have a show on a cable channel?" 

Edited July 12, 2019 by teddysmom

[annzeepark914]

On 7/4/2019 at 9:59 AM, Kemper said:

I have always thought Donny D was a pig .  Remember him gifting Meeka the shoes and her cooing over them? It is not all on him in this case.

I had never heard the "Cosby Pill" story.  When your think about it, MSNBC has a few of the  most "macho" commentators on the air...Joe, Donny, Chris come to immediate mind.  In their own way they are almost ("almost" being the operative word) as bad as a few on another network whose name shall not be mentioned.

But if MSNBC decides to put some of these guys out to pasture with maybe occasional appearances...I hope they don't replace them with The Blands.  This would almost be worse...KC/DC comes to mind.

Sorry for the negativity this morning...we are going to have one of our cats put to sleep tomorrow; I am dreading the idea of this farce of a parade and lastly...we are going to a cookout this afternoon/evening and I have to bring "something to share" when all I want to do is lie on the sofa and watch Midsomer Murders on Netflix...comfort food.  Maybe I will send Mr. Kemper with a bucket of KFC.  Winning.

I'm so sorry about your much loved kitty. It's so hard. They're our little kids. We went through this in 2016 w/ our 21 yr old coon cat. We grieved hard for a year, then went to the shelter & adopted a 7 yr old, even bigger, goofy semi-coon cat who has brought a lot of laughs into our home again.  But we keep a picture of our original kitty on the mantle 😘

Edited July 13, 2019 by annzeepark914

[oakville]

Morning Joe ratings are now below 1m viewers per day.

http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/showbuzzdailys-top-150-wednesday-cable-originals-network-finals-7-10-2019.html

[meowmommy]

6 hours ago, oakville said:

Morning Joe ratings are now below 1m viewers per day.

http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/showbuzzdailys-top-150-wednesday-cable-originals-network-finals-7-10-2019.html

Hate-watching isn't a sustainable business model.

[Jordan Baker]

I have a fashion-related question. I am horribly fashion-challenged, but I'm genuinely curious about when frayed hems became a thing. (This is tangentially related to the show because of Mika's outfit in her interview with Joe Biden.)

Seriously . . . has this been a thing for a while? And do people like it?

One of the contestants on the most recent season of Project Runway never finished her hems, and so I guess she was on-trend? I just thought she had time-management issues.