I've misplaced a bill from the Drive-By Doc-In-A-Box. I think it was already overdue. You'll excuse me if I don't post much until I found it? --And finished breakfast?
There is this about waking slowly: you do have occasional moments of sheer panic as the previous day's unfinished business seeps slowly into your awareness. It's a bug, not a feature.
Update: The savages! They have no way to pay it online! Dear merciful heavens, do I have to write and mail a check, like some kind of animal? I'll call them, or -- if they haven't quite made it out of the 19th Century -- telegraph. Gads.
Mind you, in the late 19th Century, the mail arrived -- and went out -- twice a day. Western Union wired cash anywhere, not just for scams; in fact, their system was foolproof for the time. I could probably have hired a boy on a bicycle to deliver a check in a sealed envelope and bring back a receipt. But it's 2015! These people could have a robot looking at the Internet and accepting payments 24/7/365. Instead, I just called their office, at 8:06 a.m., only to have a much dumber robot tell me to call back later, between the hours of eight a.m. and seven p.m. Um, sure. Right. I may be dealing with bears with thumbs. Since this is a medical firm, I find the concept appalling.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
10 comments:
I was told, when I asked in January, that I would be able to pay the co-insurance charge for my CPAP and supplies from my [LARGE_REGIONAL_HOSPITAL_PATIENT_PORTAL] account, because the supplies division was, of course, part of [LARGE_REGIONAL_HOSPITAL].
Imagine my surprise when I got paper bills but they never showed up in my [PATIENT_PORTAL] account. Imagine my even greater surprise when I got dunned for three months' worth of them because I thought they had been paid (inexplicably, but my insurance company does weird things sometimes) 100% by insurance. I thought they were just sending me statements showing paid invoices, so I wasn't even opening them.
Imagine my still greater surprise when I discovered they had no way to take electronic payments AND didn't take American Express -- both of which are the norm at [LARGE_REGIONAL_HOSPITAL].
I still haven't gotten this worked out, but at least I'm paying the bills now.
Impressive!
Roberta,
My extreme apologies for posting this here, but I didn't know where else to post it. I have a very real question that I am having a hard time getting a straight answer to from anyone who might know, and I think you might be able to help me.
I have been around guns all my life but have only had my ccw here in mich. since Pres. Obama was elected. I have to admit that I haven't carried consistently. Recently I see the need to do so. In the past I have carried a p64, basically a copy of a ppk clone in 9 x 18 Makarov. I sold it after a job loss, then bought a hi point 9mm. I recently bought a Taurus pt111 gen 2. I carried the p64 in a home made pancake owb. It was actually quite nice, and I still have it.
I also still have the hi point 9c with a galco paddle owb with a thumb strap.
While I really like owb at 4 o'clock with a t shirt, I see all the people on the internet rave about aiwb. Now my main question.
I am sure you are familiar with Col. Coopers 4 points of safe gun handling.
Although I don't think of them as coming down from Mt. Olympus, I do believe that they are fairly sane, reasonable rules that should be followed at all times by everyone. So the problem with aiwb is that several of these rules must be dismissed, or broken, in order to carry in this way.
If I try and carry this way people say that I should just train harder, and more often, so that I will be safe. That would be like saying "I don't have to keep my finger off the trigger, I have done it this way a million times, and it has never gone off until I actually meant for it too".
Am I wrong? Am I missing something? Am I being too argumentative or paranoid or something? It just seems that aiwb is an accident waiting to happen. Especially in a high stress situation of a possible real gunfight.
By the way, the reason I am going to start to carry consistently is not because I am going into dangerous areas, it is that dangerous areas are beginning to come to me. You can't escape them. I got that from Tam's blog,booksbikesboomsticks.
Again, I apologize for posting this here, but I didn't know where to post. If this inappropriate, you can just delete it and ignore it.
thanks.
I don't have an answer for you. I'm not an expert on ways to carry a handgun.
That said, I can tell you what I think I know:
The Four Rules are not negotiable. If you are pointing a gun at yourself in order to holster it, there's something wrong with your procedure and/or equipment. As general rule, a proper holster *must* cover and protect the trigger; a holstered sidearm gets holstered *before* you put it on and *stays* holstered until you take it off (and probably afterwards). Other than practice at the range, the only exception to "stays holstered" would be drawing it for self-defense, at which point it's probably not going to get re-holstered, but end up in an evidence bag for however long it takes the law to resolve matters.
You get to decide for yourself how you will carry. It should be a way that you find comfortable, that you determine you can safely carry and readily access your sidearm. It should provide adequate retention during your activities. It is as personal as your choice of underwear, and as much anyone else's business as your choice of underwear, too; Internet debates about ways to carry are useful insofar as they reveal possible ways to carry, known failure modes, and poor equipment choices, but you should not be emotionally invested in any particular style nor pay much mind to the choices promoted by others. The Internet is a vast source of rumor, posturing and misinformation with a little real info mixed in and on firearms it is even more that way.
Some quick jabs:
IWB/OWB under a cover garment behind the point of the hip is extremely widespread and didn't get that way for no reason. It doesn't work for everyone and can be problematic when seated. You *cannot* pay too much for a good holster -- and any holster you buy readymade off a peg is probably not all that good. (Some are much worse than others -- there's one with an index-finger-activated release that seems to build very dangerous habits, and a brand of polymer holsters that break easily, for example. Tam has little good to say about Uncle Mike's, other than most of them provide, at least, some cover of the trigger.)
On training and this habit of keeping the gun holstered, you may encounter people suggesting "dry fire," the practice of aiming and pulling the trigger of an empty gun. Some pros do this. Some amateurs do this. Me, I'm not a pro and I have heard lots of horror stories about forgetful people shooting holes in their house or worse; I use a solid plastic "blue gun" for that kind of practice. YMMV.
Think of a handgun as you would a fire extinguisher: you are very unlikely to need to use it but when the time comes, you *must* know how. Money spent on reputable training courses is *never* wasted. But your daily-carry gun is likely to spent nearly all of its (non-range) time in the holster; when you do need to use it, if shots are fired (and you should not draw unless this is a possibility!), it's effectively single-use: it's probably not going back into the holster for months or years.
Get training. Buy good equipment -- you're better off with an affordable, dependable gun from a reputable maker in a well-made holster than a really super-duper high-end gun in a cheap holster and with either one, the more good training you have, the better off you will be. Guns break, wear out, run afoul of idiotic laws, etc. Holsters wear (and they do. Throw them out when they get floppy) or are lost. Training lives between your ears and in your habits and so-called "muscle memory." No law or thief can take it from you and it doesn't break or wear out. A trained person with a crappy-but-working gun is better off than an untrained person with a really good gun.
Bit of a rant. Hope it was helpful. I think it will be today's post.
Pigpen,
Some on the net may rave about AIWB carry but I don't. I've tried standard IWB carry (4o'clock if you will) and found uncomfortable as heck for my body type. I carry OWB at about 3:30 and wear a cover over it. How one carries is as personal a choice as what one carries.
Roberta,
Many thanks for your response to my question. I think that I will just stick with what I am doing. I must admit that I do let myself get influenced by the armchair commandos sometimes as far as ccw goes, as I am so inexperienced. But everything you have suggested makes the most sense to me, and I think that I will follow that and get a good owb holster from one of the decent makers out there, of which there are many.
About the dry fire topic, my gun manual even says not to dry fire. I don't know if it is to protect the gun or for safety reasons, but I never have done so with any of my guns. It just seems like it is better to spend the time at the range.
Again, a million thanks for addressing this question, in an intelligent way that makes sense and will help me make a choice that is best for me.
I agree with you on AIWB. It seems to be the fad of the day, but I don't like it.
People say, "I'm careful. I can't have an ND because I'm not negligent." Well . . .
Look at some dashcam videos. See how many LEOs put their first round in the dirt at their feet when the adrenaline is flowing. And LEOs get a lot more practice drawing than most keyboard commandos do.
I've heard, "When I reholster the gun, I remove the AIWB holster, put the gun in it, and reattach the holster." Really? And are you going to do that after you've shot someone, when your hands are shaking, your heart is in your mouth, and you want to get the gun out of sight before the cops arrive and mistakenly shoot you?
AIWB is making Mr. Murphy an offer he can't refuse for very long. And I'd rather have a racing stripe on the outside of my thigh than a severed femoral artery.
But then, that's just me.
Dry fire: https://youtu.be/KudqDzUlWAo
The proper method to re-holster AIWB: https://youtu.be/H7GP88WhEqA
Do remember, however, that safety is process that is continually performed and not a binary state. If you see someone saying they can't have an ND, then that person is an ignorant 'tard best avoided lest it turns out to be contagious.
Back to "The savages! They have no way to pay it online!" I have noticed this seems to be true of most medical billing, It is a puzzlement, since even local stores have {contracted out} this capability.
I wonder if it might have to do with HIPAA and other "patient confidentiality" issues?
I don't know, John -- in Indy, most of the local medicine-men/women who are affiliated with a large organization do have online payment capability. Doc-Inna-Box is also a part of a big hospital-etc., but lack it.
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