Sunday, November 15, 2009

Money, football and music

If you didn't catch the good news in my last post, go check it out. While I'm totally and completely thrilled by that news, I find I have mixed feelings about it. I fully expected some sort of financial relief, but certainly not 100%. And that's put me into the mindset of wondering if my life is so pathetic that they looked at my paperwork and just took pity on me. I might have expected a 100% adjustment if I was homeless, or a transient, or had a household of 8 kids expecting to be fed each night. On the other hand, this is private institution that understands that health care costs are out of control, and know that their costs can easily be covered by a plethora of sources. I do find it ironic that if I did have health insurance, I'd be paying off the deductible and co-pays for years. Makes one question if one should have health insurance or not... BTW--no government agencies were harmed or offered to help in this episode.
Of course, I'm not totally off the hook. Bills have been coming in from other staff that were involved. I need to talk with the hospital's business office to figure out what I DO have to pay. I'm thinking that I've got about $1600 of doctor's fees that I'll have to pay off. And frankly, I'll be happy (relatively) to be able to do that. I don't want to think of myself as a freeloader.
I have been pretty quiet about my football teams this season, letting their records speak for themselves. However, playoffs are coming up (hey, big colleges...that's how WE determine our champion!), and it's time. So...
  • You'll notice that Peeman has returned to my header. That can only mean one thing--the Grizzly/Bobcat game (or Cat/Griz game if you're from Bozeman)! One of the longest running active rivalries in college football. The 109th "Brawl of the Wild". This game always has FCS playoff implications for the Big Sky Conference. The Griz won their 12th consecutive conference title (and an automatic bid) with their win yesterday, but if the Cats win, they could earn an at-large bid. As for the Griz, they will be making their 17th straight appearance in the playoffs. They also have more total wins in this decade than any other college football team, NFL or CFL. That's better than Oklahoma, Florida, or USC! I can't imagine that there's a high school team who could come close, either. GO GRIZ!
  • Carroll College had the weekend off in preparation for the NAIA playoffs. They will be hosting at least the first round game, and most likely throughout the playoffs until the championship game. They've be ranked #2 all season, behind the University of Sioux Falls (whom they lost the championship to last year). Still, they've won 5 of the last 7 national championships, and are fully expected to make it to the game again this year. Additionally, they are also in the top 5 of the teams with the most wins of the decade! GO SAINTS!
  • The Helena Capital Bruins will host the AA state championship game Friday night. They are undefeated in four seasons, and are going for their 4th consecutive state title. They have a current winning streak of 32 games (a state record), and have some ridiculous record over the past six seasons of 62-2 or something like that.
All in all, it's good for football in Montana!
A fun thing happened at the Griz game yesterday. They have a promotion that has been running for 2 seasons--kick a 45-yd field goal and win $10,000. Most of the time, it's someone who's lucky to get it 20 yards down the field. Until two weeks ago. A UM student came on, kicked it, and easily cleared the crossbar. Nice story, right? Until those who were to pay him found out that he was a former high school kicker two years earlier. And in one of those small-print-but-not-really-hidden clauses, you could not have played competitive football for at least five years. In spite of the fact that he hadn't kicked a football in two years, and didn't have the opportunity to practice. So the guy was SOL.

Public outcry was huge, so a statewide car dealer offered to put up the $10,000 if he could go out and make the kick again. And he did! Read the story here, and check out the video link on the page. It's ugly, but it works!
While watching football all weekend, I decided I needed some new music for my iPod. I had commented on someone's site about getting bored with the music I had and considered just deleting everything and starting from scratch. Well, I didn't delete, but started pulling CDs off the shelf. Good lord, what was I thinking when I bought some of these things?? I've gotten through about 350 CDs (out of about 1500), and there's probably 20 that I've never listened to, maybe about 5 whom I've never heard of, and a half dozen still shrink wrapped--and I haven't bought a CD in about 5 years! I blame my years as a CD store manager, but still... On the good side, I've added about 1 GB of music, and still have much more to go!

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