Month: July 2023

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This is Beyond Unacceptable

Damn the Republicans all to Hell.

I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have decent insurance. Come to think of it, I do know. I'd die.

I'm on two types of insulin, as undoubtedly most Type 2 diabetics are: a short acting type to be taken before meals, and a once-a-day long-acting variety that helps keep glucose stable the rest of the time.

In my particular case, it's Novolog for short-acting, and Tresiba for long-acting. My endocrinologist prescribes these in 90 days supplies which—as you can imagine—is a lot of boxes of pre-filled syringes. With my insurance I pay $80 for each 90-day supply; a steal I know. I looked at the retail price they conveniently print out on each order, and I was beyond shocked. (The same goes for the other medications I take on a regular basis.)

Novolog—which is basically just plain old insulin—in that 90-day quantity retails for $3100. The Tresiba goes for $2400.

So, four refills a year of each would come to a grand total of $22,000 a year.

That comes to a little less than a third of my pre-tax income.

Who can afford to pay that?

And don't even get me started on the cost of the Libre3 monitors…

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So I'm in Class All Week…

Elphaba has a hard-on for certifications, professional development, and "advancing your career."

I am 18 months from retirement. I don't give a shit about certifications, professional development, and advancing my career. My only professional goal at this point is keeping my head down, doing my job, getting vested for my retirement account, and getting the fuck out of this place at the end of January 2025.

The last time I had a one-on-one with her (thankfully, something I will never have to do again), I pointed out that I was retiring and therefore additional training for "career bulding" would be money ill-spent. She wasn't having a bit of it. "I expect everyone under me to attend two training classes per year."

Okay, I decided I wanted to take Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator classes. They aren't applications I use professionally, but we do support those users who do use them.

DENIED. "Not job related."

So this week I find myself in an online Sharepoint class. My boss called this "a learning vacation."

I will readily admit that I do not understand Sharepoint. I had some company-provided training prior to COVID and WFH lockdown that allowed me to handle the few requests for minor changes that came in, but since we've been back in the office the entire infrastructure was changed and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing any more. Add to that the fact that I simply don't care about any of this shit.

Bad attitude? You betcha!

As if to add insult to injury, I don't have rights to do anything in Sharepoint any more anyway. I've pointed this out several times to the people that have the power to do something about it, but—like getting a company cell phone because the greeting on my personal cell was deemed "unprofessional"—nothing ever gets resolved. So any tickets that come in that involve Sharepoint changes get ignored until someone else picks them up.

It's going to be a long week. But at least I'm not in the office.