May 10, 2008 Ship of Thieves! Stealing the Magic..AGAIN!!! Panama Canal FL to CA!!! Part 4

[been2marceline]

Of course after doing that all day and then driving home 90 mintues (great traffic!) we get home to find Sweetie limping.

Here's a picture of Sweetie:

She wouldn't put any weight on her back right leg and was holding it with the toes curled tight. So off to the 24 hr vet hospital at 8pm Sunday night. they x-rayed and it's not broken so they think it is probably sprained and sent her home with pain meds. So for the next few days she is in solitary locked in our master bath so she can't run around with our other cat Jasper. Which of course is probably how she got hurt in the first place... Tonight she is starting to straighten out her leg, not putting any weight on it but not holding it up tight either. The vet thinks by Thursday she should show definite improvement so any pixie dust would be great for her. She is not enjoying her confinement at all. But we figure this is better than being in a tiny cage at the vets (which was the other option).

Poor Sweetie!!

Sending lots of out to both of you!

Karen

 

[Jhalkias]

Good Morning Everyone!

HUGE! Now, I wonder if whatever angel was looking out for me also mows lawns?

One of my favorite things to do is mow the lawn . . . (just give me my ipod and my John Deere) but I think you are a bit too far away for me to ride my John Deere up there.

Be prepared for some not so fun realizations John. OK, so it might not be all that bad and hopefully by the time your son is done with med school the health care crisis in the US will be over and doctors can just go back to being doctors rather than stressing over other ways to make a buck! I am shocked at what insurance companies can get away with...and new things happen all the time that blow me away.
My biggest advice for your son....take any and all practice management courses they may offer. They don't seem that exciting compared to others, but I wish I had more than I took. Doctors make horrible business people, or at least I do

I am starting to believe that insurance RAISES the cost of healthcare instead of managing the cost of healthcare. Amy is right now going through a battle with insurance on prescriptions - different answer depending on what day of the week you call. I will give Alex your advice - maybe I can go to work for him and retire from here someday!

 

[disneylover5]

GREAT NEWS today! For those of you who remember my student loan stress, it's official! The funds were deposited today and I've received confirmation. WOOHOO! So I have to hurry up and buy my books this week and get my assignments done because classes start Monday.

AWESOME​

​

 

[disneylover5]

Our DD was 10 1/2 on the last Panama Cruise and we let her have check-in/check-out privileges and she enjoyed the freedom and we felt good about trusting her. She regrets not spending more time in club and getting to know the other kids better until the end.

We will be on a cruise in November and she will be almost 13, so we are going back and forth as to what level club to put her in.

Karen

Last cruise Annie was almost 13 and we let her go into the Teen club (Stack) and the first night she told me the kids were too old for her. She had so much looked forward to hanging there.

She made herself very happy and very comfortable in the room on the 2nd Deck....Ocean Quest......she loved it and the CM were so much fun.

 

[LisaG520]

Originally Posted by HollyTyler
GREAT NEWS today! For those of you who remember my student loan stress, it's official! The funds were deposited today and I've received confirmation. WOOHOO! So I have to hurry up and buy my books this week and get my assignments done because classes start Monday.

Super happy news! Congratulations

I know how stressful dealing with this can be. When I was in college I was hospitalized one semester and had to drop out due to illness. Well the school told the Student loan people I dropped out so I wouldn't flunk out! They denied me my spring semester loan! Took a while but I finally made the school get involved to fix their mistake! So not what I needed after being sick.

 

[ibouncetoo]

Morning kiddies! Anyone ever done a Segway tour at Epcot? Tell me about it, please. We're considering it for when we are there in SEVEN MONTHS!

Man, I've got to start thinking about ADR's for DISNEYLAND in two and a half weeks!. Cheri, sent you an e-mail about this. Actually, a couple of my favorites are counter service--Bengal BarBQ in DL and Whitewater Snacks in the Grand Californian. I also like having lunch at the Jazz Kitchen on the patio and watching all the shoppers/park people walking by. Gotta remember to try the Dill Pickle Chips there too!

YIKES...time to hit the shower.....later kids!

 

[LisaG520]

Man, I've got to start thinking about ADR's for DISNEYLAND in two and a half weeks!. Cheri, sent you an e-mail about this. Actually, a couple of my favorites are counter service--Bengal BarBQ in DL and Whitewater Snacks in the Grand Californian. I also like having lunch at the Jazz Kitchen on the patio and watching all the shoppers/park people walking by. Gotta remember to try the Dill Pickle Chips there too!

YIKES...time to hit the shower.....later kids!

Wow I didn't know they had pickle chips there - I will definitely check this out next time we are up there.

 

[HollyTyler]

GREAT NEWS HOLLY! Thanks for sharing it with us. So....where are you headed to celebrate this weekend?!

Well, I'm going to Olive Garden for dinner after work Friday with some women from work, but that was already planned. I suppose I could do a little celebrating there, but not too much because I'll have to crack down on homework that night and all day Saturday in preparation for next week's classes.

 

[HollyTyler]

One of my favorite things to do is mow the lawn . . . (just give me my ipod and my John Deere) but I think you are a bit too far away for me to ride my John Deere up there.

My yard's too small for a John Deere anyway! It take me 10 minutes to mow the front and about 1/2 hour for the back. And the back yard is mostly shade, so I only have to mow that every other time because the grass grows so slowly back there. I'm lovin' it!

 

[HollyTyler]

Super happy news! Congratulations

I know how stressful dealing with this can be. When I was in college I was hospitalized one semester and had to drop out due to illness. Well the school told the Student loan people I dropped out so I wouldn't flunk out! They denied me my spring semester loan! Took a while but I finally made the school get involved to fix their mistake! So not what I needed after being sick.

How terrible that you had to go through that after being sick. But I'm glad it got worked out for you! So many hassles we have to go through for education.

 

[ibouncetoo]

Wow I didn't know they had pickle chips there - I will definitely check this out next time we are up there.

Oh man, now I'm thinking I've had a 'senior moment' and don't remember where the pickle chips are. Did we talk about them on this thread? I may have to do some research tonight while waiting for "LOST" to start.

Off to work I go..........
<---me in my imaginary red Mustang!

 

[birkner]

Kaylee's right, insurance is a joke, I cannot tell you what we're going through insurance wise in regards to Mark's wrist surgery and also for when Ryan was hospitalized in NJ with the flu over Christmas. Right now we could have our cruise paid off for and then some if I didn't have to pay what I've paid for Mark and Ryan because insurance is bickering over one thing or another. It's so annoying and frustrating. More and more I realize insurance is really only for catastrophic medical events....

May I share a story with all of you about insurance? When I took my father to the doctor two years ago before his death, his primary physician thought his breathing was so labored that he needed immediate hospitalization. She had an ambulance transport him to the nearest hospital. My father's insurance company was Kaiser, which is an HMO with its own doctors and hospitals. However, the nearest Hospital was not Kaiser and since the case was so urgent, they transported him to Regional Medical Center.

He was in the emergency room at Regional Medical Center for two days and in intensive care for a week before he stable enough to be transported to a Kaiser Hospital.

I was the person on the spot managing the bills for my father. I was told by Kaiser that I would receive bills for my father from the ambulance service, the hospital and the physicians for his care. These bills would automatically be paid by Kaiser because his primary physician authorized the transportation to the nearest hospital.

The hospital bill in 2005 for two days in emergency, seven days in intensive care, testing and supplies was $315,021.94. The ambulance transport costs from the doctor to hospital and then to a Kaiser hospital was $1,396.00. The physician costs were $5,948.00

Kaiser told me the costs would be reduced to 1/4 as a courtesy to Kaiser. My father's costs were his monthly Kaiser bill of $248.00.

While my mother lived, her retirement costs for medical insurance were zero as she was a retired Santa Clara County employee. She only paid the costs for medical for my father in retirement.

There is a three tired system of health care system in this country. One for those who have excellent, affordable insurance or the means to pay for their care. Second system is for those who are self employed or underemployed with medium insurance which high deductibles and many services not provided. The third system is for those who have no insurance and use the county emergency rooms for health care.

We have been in a health crisis for many years. As boomers like myself approach retirement, the system may collapse with the mounting health care costs.

Now, off my soapbox!!

 

[birkner]

Morning kiddies! Anyone ever done a Segway tour at Epcot? Tell me about it, please. We're considering it for when we are there in SEVEN MONTHS!

Man, I've got to start thinking about ADR's for DISNEYLAND in two and a half weeks!. Cheri, sent you an e-mail about this. Actually, a couple of my favorites are counter service--Bengal BarBQ in DL and Whitewater Snacks in the Grand Californian. I also like having lunch at the Jazz Kitchen on the patio and watching all the shoppers/park people walking by. Gotta remember to try the Dill Pickle Chips there too!

YIKES...time to hit the shower.....later kids!

DH, DD, SIL and I did the Segway tour at Epcot in March 2006. We all met in the area with the kids who watched us learn how to operate the Segways. You learn how to operate the Segway in an enclosed area with ramps. You learn to go forward, backward, up and down ramps and in general to control, the Segway.

Once the instructor is confident all of your classmates are confident in controlling the Segway, you get to go out and take the Segway around on a trail.

It was a blast and we are ALL looking forward to doing the class again in December.

Noel

 

[birkner]

Oh man, now I'm thinking I've had a 'senior moment' and don't remember where the pickle chips are. Did we talk about them on this thread? I may have to do some research tonight while waiting for "LOST" to start.

Off to work I go..........
<---me in my imaginary red Mustang!

Do you mean these chips?

 

[gaylean93]

Last cruise Annie was almost 13 and we let her go into the Teen club (Stack) and the first night she told me the kids were too old for her. She had so much looked forward to hanging there.

She made herself very happy and very comfortable in the room on the 2nd Deck....Ocean Quest......she loved it and the CM were so much fun.

I'm glad to hear that there is a choice because I have a friend that is going on one of the week long cruises and she has a son that is VERY immature and small for his age. He will be 14 but he is as tall as my 7 year old and they are into the same things as well. He would not fit in with the teens at all. I have never been on a cruise at all but I kind of figured Disney would help as much as possible.

 

[gaylean93]

Welcome! We live in Murrieta which isn't super far from you. We're also having a DIS meets at Storyteller's in the Grand Californian on 5/20 at 5pm. If you're interested in coming, let me know how many and I'll add you to the reservation. The full details are on page one of this thread!!

Count me in for three. My husband has to work right now but he is trying to work it out so he can come. I will let you know in the next couple of days if he can come. Me and the kids will be there forsure. I've never been to the hotel, is that the one you get to through California Adventure?

 

[gaylean93]

Oh yes, come join us for Sunday supper at Storytellers! clynne and her family will be there, it would be a great chance for the kids to meet!! Think about it....think about it REAL HARD!

Yeah we'll be there. At leaste me and the kids. Hopefully my hubby can get some time off because he was a little excited when I told him about this forum and the meetings you guys are planning. I guess it makes the cruise seem closer even though it is like a million years away!

 

[gaylean93]

Different 'clusters' of us have cruised together before. I've also met a couple of people from DIS meets at WDW over the years. We've already had two DIS meets for the Arizona "Thieves" and will probably have more. There is a DIS meet in Disneyland on Sunday 5/20...a group of about 30 of us! I seems like a lot of us will be at WDW in early December, so there will be some 'meet's there too. But after 15,000 posts, those of us who never met before 1/31 have had the chance to learn quite a bit about each other. Read often, post when you can.





We've got a lot of experienced cruisers here, so feel free to ask all the questions you want. I find reading the DCL Trip Reports to be very helpful AND very fun. It's one of the best ways to find out those "I didn't know you could do that" stuff!


Speaking of those of you traveling to WDW in December (and November), the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party tickets went on sale today. You can also book an ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern, Tony's OR Cinderella's Royal Table (that's NEW) for the night of your party, starting at 6PM. If you want to dine earlier/elsewhere you have to wait till the 180 day window to book those ADRs. If you call for your tickets and the CM says you can't book the dining, tell them they have to go into 'special events' in the computer to do it. That's the scoop.

I have already found a few things I couldn't believe you could do so I know exactly what you are saying. And believe me, I am always open to hear new things. I have a little disadvantage because I have never even cruised before. Half the people that I know that have cruised loved it and the other half hated it. We wanted our first cruise to be Disney so we were happy to find this one. Most people think we are crazy for taking such a long cruise before we have gotten "our sea legs wet"!!!

 

[Jhalkias]

May I share a story with all of you about insurance? When I took my father to the doctor two years ago before his death, his primary physician thought his breathing was so labored that he needed immediate hospitalization. She had an ambulance transport him to the nearest hospital. My father's insurance company was Kaiser, which is an HMO with its own doctors and hospitals. However, the nearest Hospital was not Kaiser and since the case was so urgent, they transported him to Regional Medical Center.

He was in the emergency room at Regional Medical Center for two days and in intensive care for a week before he stable enough to be transported to a Kaiser Hospital.

I was the person on the spot managing the bills for my father. I was told by Kaiser that I would receive bills for my father from the ambulance service, the hospital and the physicians for his care. These bills would automatically be paid by Kaiser because his primary physician authorized the transportation to the nearest hospital.

The hospital bill in 2005 for two days in emergency, seven days in intensive care, testing and supplies was $315,021.94. The ambulance transport costs from the doctor to hospital and then to a Kaiser hospital was $1,396.00. The physician costs were $5,948.00

Kaiser told me the costs would be reduced to 1/4 as a courtesy to Kaiser. My father's costs were his monthly Kaiser bill of $248.00.

While my mother lived, her retirement costs for medical insurance were zero as she was a retired Santa Clara County employee. She only paid the costs for medical for my father in retirement.

There is a three tired system of health care system in this country. One for those who have excellent, affordable insurance or the means to pay for their care. Second system is for those who are self employed or underemployed with medium insurance which high deductibles and many services not provided. The third system is for those who have no insurance and use the county emergency rooms for health care.

We have been in a health crisis for many years. As boomers like myself approach retirement, the system may collapse with the mounting health care costs.

Now, off my soapbox!!

Everything you stated is true and correct Noel. Unfortunately, everyone is afraid to address the problem in any comprehensive and meaningful way.

 

[birkner]

Everything you stated is true and correct Noel. Unfortunately, everyone is afraid to address the problem in any comprehensive and meaningful way.

You are right John, not since the 1992 Clinton Health Care Bill defeat.

Politics aside let me post this wikipedia analysis of the Clinton proposal on health care in 1992:

Clinton had campaigned heavily on health care in the 1992 election, and he quickly set up the Task Force on National Health Care Reform, headed by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (the plan is often derisively referred to as "HillaryCare"), to come up with a comprehensive plan to provide universal health care for all Americans, which was to be a cornerstone of the administration's first-term agenda.

The result, announced by Clinton in an address made to Congress on September 22, 1993, was a complex proposal running more than 1,000 pages, the core element of which was an enforced mandate for employers to provide health insurance coverage to all of their employees through competitive but closely-regulated health maintenance organizations (HMOs). The plan, referred to derisively as "Hillary Care" by some, was initially well-received by liberal political leaders and some Americans who said health care was the most important issue facing the country.

At its introduction, the plan seemed likely to pass through the Democratic-controlled Congress.[citation needed] Conservatives, libertarians, and the insurance industry, however, staged an effective and well-organized campaign opposing Clinton's "Health Security" plan and criticized it as being overly bureaucratic and restrictive of patient choice.[citation needed] The effort included extensive advertising criticizing the plan, including the famous Harry and Louise ad, which depicted a middle-class couple despairing over the plan's supposed bureaucratic nature. The advertisements might have been particularly effective because they characterized Clinton's plan as being against middle class values. Op-eds were written against it, including one in The Washington Post by University of Virginia Professor Martha Derthick that said, "In many years of studying American social policy, I have never read an official document that seemed so suffused with coercion and political naiveté ... with its drastic prescriptions for controlling the conduct of state governments, employers, drug manufacturers, doctors, hospitals and you and me."

Meanwhile, Democrats, instead of uniting behind the President's original proposal, offered a number of competing plans of their own. Some criticized the plan from the left, preferring a Canadian-style single payer system.

On September 26, 1994, George J. Mitchell, the Senate Majority Leader, announced that the plan was dead, at least for that session of Congress. The defeat weakened Clinton politically, and contributed to widespread public frustration with perceived Congressional gridlock.[citation needed] In the 1994 election, the Republican revolution gave the GOP control of both houses of Congress, ending prospects for a Clinton-sponsored health care overhaul. Comprehensive reform aimed at creating universal health care in the United States has not been seriously considered by Congress since. The prospects for this plan are showing a resurgence through the 2008 election and democratic control over both houses of Congress.