November 2007 Archives
I will first of say that I feel that I am one lucky guy. I have a great supporting wife and two wonderful healthy kids which I am thankful. What we've been going through lately is our son has somewhat of a speech delay that from everything that we've been reading about is most likely tied to the fact that he never crawled as a baby. At 10 months he popped up and started walking. There are studies that link ones speech development to the crossover motions that you get when you crawl as a baby. Well we're having to play catch up and he is going to Occupational Therapy once a week for an hour. The only issue is that this therapist is not on our insurance list nor do they submit claims to the insurance company. So this brings all the paperwork on myself. Every time we go I have to pay $80 bucks and then submit a claim form with the invoice.
Well I had done what I had been told my the insurance company to later find out we were missing the diagnosis codes.That took me two weeks to get that fixed so I had to re-submit 6 claims with the correct codes. Well a month later I call to check on the status. Well according to the lady on the phone they haven't gotten any new submittal forms from me... I went ballistic, all she would do would repeat what was on the screen. Round and round, she finally hung up on my since I basically told her that she can't help me that I want to talk with someone new. I called back and got a much nicer rep that told me that things can tend to get "lost" in the mail and that I should re-submit all the claim forms again. I grumbled and then asked if they have a fax #. She told me that she wasn't supposed to give it out but she gave it to me anyways.
This morning I send off 18 pages of claim forms and I'm hoping this is the end of them "losing" my submissions.
This is why I have a great dis-like for insurance companies. A word of advice to those that have to work with insurance companies. Challenge everything from them. If you don't like the response or the coverage, tell whomever you are talking to, to re-submit it. This has worked many times for us and instead of paying $1500 out of pocket for a procedure, I just had to pay $20 after I told them that I didn't like their response and to re-submit the claim.
Challenge everything!
Well I had done what I had been told my the insurance company to later find out we were missing the diagnosis codes.That took me two weeks to get that fixed so I had to re-submit 6 claims with the correct codes. Well a month later I call to check on the status. Well according to the lady on the phone they haven't gotten any new submittal forms from me... I went ballistic, all she would do would repeat what was on the screen. Round and round, she finally hung up on my since I basically told her that she can't help me that I want to talk with someone new. I called back and got a much nicer rep that told me that things can tend to get "lost" in the mail and that I should re-submit all the claim forms again. I grumbled and then asked if they have a fax #. She told me that she wasn't supposed to give it out but she gave it to me anyways.
This morning I send off 18 pages of claim forms and I'm hoping this is the end of them "losing" my submissions.
This is why I have a great dis-like for insurance companies. A word of advice to those that have to work with insurance companies. Challenge everything from them. If you don't like the response or the coverage, tell whomever you are talking to, to re-submit it. This has worked many times for us and instead of paying $1500 out of pocket for a procedure, I just had to pay $20 after I told them that I didn't like their response and to re-submit the claim.
Challenge everything!
As many of you know I ride the ACE Train to work and back. It's an interesting experience as there's every type of person on the train. Janitors, Principles, Helicopter Pilots, etc. You name it, we have it. There is a group of older men that like to play poker on the way home and this is serious as there is money involved. Sometimes you will see $20's change hand. The reason why I point out this group is that all of them, mostly over 45 or so, think it is necessary every time they get on to the train is to greet each other with a fist bump. It's somewhat comical since many of them hang their fist out there for 30 or 45 seconds trying to get a bump where in fact they just look silly with their fist hanging out there. I found this on YouTube... This would be interesting to see in real life.
Time to go home.
We finally got some much needed reset in St. George, UT at a fairly nice Hampton Inn. This was our first major road trip with the kids and I have to say they were little troopers. Today they were a little antsy, but that was to be expected. I can only look forward to the next road trip. Next Year? Maybe we will head out to Yellow Stone.
Our Family in Zion Canyon.
And our crazy route:
View Larger Map
Total Miles: 1568
Happy Thanksgiving.
Well today is the coldest day of them all. We heard that It was 1 degree this morning at the hotel at 6AM. By the time that we got up it was 19 degrees. We had a few bottles of water in the truck that were frozen solid. Man... It was just a few days ago that we were in 80 degree weather. On top of the 19 degrees, the wind was blowing. Burrrrr.
We made it into Bryce Canyon today and due to the holiday, the rangers were off so we got into the park for free. So nice not to spend the $25 to get in when you are going to be there for a few hours. Bryce Canyon is much different than Zion Canyon. In Zion, you come into the canyon from the bottom and you're always looking up. Whereas in Bryce, you come in on this plateau and are looking down at everything. Here are some photos from today.
This is our turning point going home. It's been a good week and have seen a lot. We ate dinner at Del Taco in St. George, UT since it was the only thing open. We make the long trek home tomorrow.
Total Miles: 954
Well today is the coldest day of them all. We heard that It was 1 degree this morning at the hotel at 6AM. By the time that we got up it was 19 degrees. We had a few bottles of water in the truck that were frozen solid. Man... It was just a few days ago that we were in 80 degree weather. On top of the 19 degrees, the wind was blowing. Burrrrr.
We made it into Bryce Canyon today and due to the holiday, the rangers were off so we got into the park for free. So nice not to spend the $25 to get in when you are going to be there for a few hours. Bryce Canyon is much different than Zion Canyon. In Zion, you come into the canyon from the bottom and you're always looking up. Whereas in Bryce, you come in on this plateau and are looking down at everything. Here are some photos from today.
This is our turning point going home. It's been a good week and have seen a lot. We ate dinner at Del Taco in St. George, UT since it was the only thing open. We make the long trek home tomorrow.
Total Miles: 954
Made it to Springdale, UT yesterday which is right at the entrance to Zion Canyon. The town is really small with very little going on but they do have an amazing pizza parlor. The Zion Pizza & Noodle Co. has one of the best pizzas that I have ever come across. They make their dough fresh daily and is incredible.
Today was the first day of cold weather. When we got up it was about 30 degrees out but the sun came out and warmed it up a bit. We made it into Zion Canyon and had two great hikes with the kids. All total = 4 miles or so. Not too bad for a 5 and 3 year old to do. Here are some photos from today.
We then headed off to Bryce Canyon, but we got in a little too late to visit today.
Temperature update: 16 degrees at 10 PM.
Total Miles: 810
Today was the first day of cold weather. When we got up it was about 30 degrees out but the sun came out and warmed it up a bit. We made it into Zion Canyon and had two great hikes with the kids. All total = 4 miles or so. Not too bad for a 5 and 3 year old to do. Here are some photos from today.
We then headed off to Bryce Canyon, but we got in a little too late to visit today.
Temperature update: 16 degrees at 10 PM.
Total Miles: 810
Good bye Las Vegas it was fun while it lasted. What I won't miss is the smoke. It is everywhere and gets into all your clothes.
Today we're driving off to Utah where on Wednesday we will be visiting Zion Canyon and Bryce Canyon.
Total Miles: 720
Today we're driving off to Utah where on Wednesday we will be visiting Zion Canyon and Bryce Canyon.
Total Miles: 720
With a day under our belts, we went off to the Hoover Dam. Driving up to the actual site, you can only notice the rugged terrain. Peaks and tight gorges are all over the place and then you get to the actual location of the damn. WOW. First impression is incredible. The magnitude of the damn is breath taking. The actual engineering that went into it is a feat in itself. There are stories of some of the workers that fell to their deaths by falling into the wet concrete never to come back up. Here are some photos from the damn. You'll notice that they are in the process of building a new bridge to take the traffic off of the bridge. All I can say is that I don't want to driver over this when they are done. The photos don't do it justice, but this thing is so far above the ground.
Dinner was at Hooters, the wings weren't hot enough for me, but the drinks were small BUT powerful. We then we went off to the Palms casino to check out one of the hottest casinos in town. Too bad this week is slow due to Thanksgiving.
Tomorrow we're heading off to Zion Canyon up in Utah.
Total Miles to Date: 562
Dinner was at Hooters, the wings weren't hot enough for me, but the drinks were small BUT powerful. We then we went off to the Palms casino to check out one of the hottest casinos in town. Too bad this week is slow due to Thanksgiving.
Tomorrow we're heading off to Zion Canyon up in Utah.
Total Miles to Date: 562
Greetings from Las Vegas. It took a better part of the day and 496 miles to get here, but we made it safely.
Since this little trip here with our friends the Flemings, was somewhat planned the night before we left, I have decided to call this trek "Trip Spontaneous". The only planning that went into this was booking the hotel rooms at the Excalibur. Thanks to Hotels.com we got our rooms for $54 a night which is nothing really for being on the strip. From here on out, it's just up in the air.
So we all went out to ESPN Zone for dinner and since we had so many people in our party, they put us in the special ESPN broadcasting room where they do remote ESPN broadcasts when something special is going on in Vegas. We then left the kids with my sister-in-law where we headed over to New York, New York and spent some time on the slots where we're down ~ $40 or so which isn't that bad in my opinion.
While at New York New York, we were over by their "Bar" with the dueling pianos where we saw a few of the stars from the The Real Housewifes of Orange County walk in (Vicki and Tammy).
We finally made it back to the hotel around 2AM for some much needed sleep. Tomorrow it looks like were off to the Hoover Dam.
Since this little trip here with our friends the Flemings, was somewhat planned the night before we left, I have decided to call this trek "Trip Spontaneous". The only planning that went into this was booking the hotel rooms at the Excalibur. Thanks to Hotels.com we got our rooms for $54 a night which is nothing really for being on the strip. From here on out, it's just up in the air.
So we all went out to ESPN Zone for dinner and since we had so many people in our party, they put us in the special ESPN broadcasting room where they do remote ESPN broadcasts when something special is going on in Vegas. We then left the kids with my sister-in-law where we headed over to New York, New York and spent some time on the slots where we're down ~ $40 or so which isn't that bad in my opinion.
While at New York New York, we were over by their "Bar" with the dueling pianos where we saw a few of the stars from the The Real Housewifes of Orange County walk in (Vicki and Tammy).
We finally made it back to the hotel around 2AM for some much needed sleep. Tomorrow it looks like were off to the Hoover Dam.
I am so proud to be an American and I love what this Veteran did.
I was somewhat surprised that ABC showed this, since they are the mainstream media that typically shows nothing worth while. Everything negative all the time is what I get from them, but this was something different. This made me ask myself, what can I do to say thank you. Freedom is not cheap by any means and these men and women in our armed forces fight for us everyday.
I don't have many pet peeves, but one of my top ones is a "limp wrist" handshake. Come on now buddy, are you a dude or not. Shake my hand like you have some confidence. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
I saw this article today and couldn't pass it up.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/worklife/11/05/cb.hand.shake/index.html
