Goodness, we're at Thursday again already. Where has the week gone? I don't think I have thirteen , things in me, but I figured I'd ramble on about the few things I do want to report, and we'll see where it leads.
First off - My diabetic Jezebel/Ugly Girl is doing well. She gets two shots 12 hours apart, and I test her to make sure that her blood glucose is high enough to give her a shot. She doesn't like blood tests, but she puts up with them - the shot she seems to not care about - probably because she's generally eating at the time. I would be a nervous wreck if I obsessed the way many people do (I think I might have blogged that one of the message boards was really intimidating with the constant testing, and giving "one/two drop" injections as needed, and for a while I thought I'd have to give up ever having a normal life. But her BG has settled down and her high numbers seem to be gradually getting lower - so who knows - maybe she will get off insulin at some point....but I'm done stressing about it all.
Next is work. A policy change troubled me enough that I went to my supervisor with my concerns. He didn't understand what I was worried about at first - and I"m still not sure that he does. I just hope it wasn't a mistake going to him first rather than taking it right to Personnel. It was the right thing to do - giving him the chance to hear me out, but I think it may have not been the right decision professionally.....time will tell. I really don't like office politics and I'm not good at it - and its definitely been hurting me lately.
Speaking of work - I didn't see it first hand, but I heard from three different people that a coworker did some boss bashing on Facebook over the weekend......the post in question is no longer available online....but I find it amazing that a well educated professional would bitch about her boss - even as a friends only comment when she has at least a dozen coworkers (including some in management) on her friends list.
Tonight I went over to a friends house to do his taxes. The good news is that he is getting a lot of money back - the bad news is that I discovered he's in quite a bit of financial trouble.....behind on his mortgage and committed to paying back very large student loans for the technical school his son just finished. He talked about fixing up his house to sell it - and I told him flat out that he wasn't going to get enough to cover what he owed.....and if it was me, I'd just walk away. Mind you, that's not something I would advocate ordinarily....but he got stuck in a really bad loan and the paperwork to try to get a renegotiation is so complex that he gave up.
That, I think, is a major problem in this country. The government should provide a safety net for its citizens but the requirements for many of these help programs are too complex for the folks that need the assistance. Look at social security disability. Apparently the requirements are so complicated that many people hire lawyers to help them through the process of applying and getting approved for benefits.....and so much of the money the government gives these folks actually ends up going to lawyers.
Mind you, I understand why the rules are in place, and how frustrating it is to watch our tax dollars go to pay for people who continue to do stupid things and don't make their own way in this world. I'm right there with you - every time I read about a woman with multiple kids who can't support them (its not like birth control is a secret) - or a man who chooses to live on the street rather than give up his drugs or alcohol - it frustrates and disappoints me. But I still think we'd save money and do a better job of helping those who really need it if we assumed that most people were honest and made the process easier - rather than expecting the worst from everyone and enacting complicated guidelines that make it hard for anyone except the con artists to take advantage of the available aid.
Wow - I wasn't expecting this blog to go this direction - but it did, and I think its as good a place as any to stop.
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend....
I couldn't agree more about our publicly available support systems. Having dealt with many of them in recent years I can say that if you don't know what you're doing, you're screwed. I even had a social worker tell me I had to "work the system." The problem is though that most of us don't know the system well enough and when we are faced with a hardship we are often too stressed to think clearly; so at the time when we need the most guidance, support, and hand holding, the system stands in stalwart and confusing opposition to every shred of assistance we might hope to get.
ReplyDeleteAnd from what I've seen, your knowledge and ability to understand and work with the complexities of these aid systems is much greater than to the average person in need. So if you're stuggling to get what you need - they don't stand a chance.
ReplyDeleteMy friend has great mechanical aptitude but isn't strong in the reading/writing department....and that's shown me how easy it is for an honest hardworking person to get screwed over and over again - they can't figure out how to get a real hand up out of their mess and then the private industry vultures (paydayloans/creditrepair/refinancehelp) just suck them in deeper, promising to fix things if they'll just pay a little more money they don't have....