Top Posts Of The Week And Open Thread
Just What The World Needed, A Big Mac Burrito
NYC Restaurant Calls Coupon Bitches "Bitches"
Plaid Pantry Says Bathroom Off Limits, Lets Customer Poop Pants
Best Buy Too Lazy To Find Your Item Unless You Order It Online
Squash Minimum Purchase Fees With Wallet-Sized Merchant Agreement
Use the comments section of this post to comment about whatever is on your mind today.
(Photo: Kevin)
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OOoo.. My favorite post of the week.. and such a cute kitty to go with it!!
Strange things have been happening this week. Yesterday I called a car dealership financing guy to ask which model of a car my member was buying and he said, "Which one do you want it to be?"
"Well I'm just trying to look up the value for the loan paperwork, so I just need to know whether it's an S or an SL"
and he says again, "Which one do you want it to be?" so I said, "I don't really care, it's not my car!"
He finally told me that it was an S and I remain immensely creeped out.
I totally had something on my mind at 4 a.m. that I was going to ask my fellow Consumerists about, but I have lost it. C'est la vie.
I went to one of those Walgreens "Take Care" clinics yesterday for an ear infection (aaaargh! adults aren't supposed to get ear infections!) and I was very favorably impressed. I was in and out in under an hour, with Rx and sick-person food in hand. One stop. And my insurance covered it, but without insurance the cost for the visit would have been $75, which I thought was pretty reasonable.
How much would you have to hate yourself (and/or your blood pressure) to eat this?
@JulesNoctambule: Please, hook up that recipe! Last time I tried, it was too dry and horrendous on the way out.
I had a delicious gyro for lunch, and now I'm in a pita and tzatziki sauce coma.
Can I go home now, please?
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): I've never been to any of those clinics, and I've been curious. How much medical treatment could they do there?
@Pixel: I don't know what bothers me most. The fact they've put bacon in spam... or that it has "real Hormel bacon". Not just "real bacon" but "real Hormel bacon". As if somehow Hormel bacon is different than regular bacon. That alone does not sit well with me in a product that comes congealed in its own protective jelly.
@Preyfar: Well you don't want to ruin the flavor of Spam with inferior bacon.
Yeah, I couldn't type that with a straight face.
@Preyfar: Well, obviously Hormel is a narcissist, because it thinks its own bacon is superior to other kinds of bacon.
@pecan 3.14159265: AFAIK they're all general practitioners, and of course if they see something serious - like a broken bone or a disease they have no ability to treat - they'll send you along to the hospital. They're designed for colds, coughs, ear infections, shots (sometimes). Basic stuff you don't want to wait 5 hours (and pay HUGE $$$) at the ER for.
I just signed off on my new auto insurance contract, and despite a recent "small incident", my premium is 60% LESS than what it was last time.
Who says shopping around for insurance isn't fun?
@pecan 3.14159265: They do quite a lot, I looked after I got home:
I ended up going because the urgent care I usually go to has moved/closed since I last went, and I was on a very tight time schedule while my husband was home with the baby before he had to go to work. (My doctor is awesome, but it's a 30 minute drive and getting an appointment to schedule around the baby for an "urgent" issue is hard.)
Some of my friends have since told me they go there for sports physicals for their kids -- $30 flat, quicker than a full pede visit. I would (will) definitely go back this winter when I get sinus infections ... quick and easy and I really liked not having to get back in the car and drive somewhere else to fill the Rx while feeling like crap. I imagine if I'm lugging the baby along, that one-stop will be even better.
I wouldn't go for something major or something I didn't know what it was, but if I'm pretty sure I have a sinus infection or whatever, especially after my doc's office is closed for the day/weekend, it's definitely an attractive alternative to the urgent care clinics. Cheaper and much faster.
@bornonbord: What you say is true: As usual, someone beat me to the post. I'd love to have that recipie too!
Lunch was negligible, but I bought two half-pecks of apples yesterday (plus the obligatory cider doughnut), and I'm planning apple pancakes and apple turnovers for the weekend. I looove fall.
I'm traveling to Michigan next weekend, and as I'm only going for a few days I don't plan on bringing actual luggage. Though I do want to bring certain items with me, I won't be checking bags so I'll have to be extra special careful what I put in my bag and what I leave out.
Out of curiosity - I know you can only have 2 oz of any liquid and I can get travel sizes of shampoo and what not - but what about a razor? Will I have to just buy one when I get there? And if I have an EMPTY nalgene bottle will they confiscate it because its more than 2oz?
@Oranges w/ Cheese in rainy Central FL: I read something like 85% of sick-child visits with school-age children are the same six diseases, all of which are easily diagnosable and treatable by a nurse practitioner.
And really, when you're on ear infection 62 with child #3, you're probably pretty clear on when you need to have the full workup by the pediatrician and when it's yet another ear infection!
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): I have to go to the doctor's soon but if I could go to a clinic instead, that'd probably be cheaper. But I just looked on Walgreen's website, and they don't have any in the DC area, which I find odd. It's good to know, though, if the clinics ever do expand to the DC area.
Okay, what's been bothering me all day is the conversation i had with my co workers regarding the fact that NO information, regardless of content is ever given freely in this place! If info were food, we'd all be starving here. Makes no sense!
okay, rant finished
@JulesNoctambule: I make Cheesy Jalapeno Cornbread as well, but I make mine in my Lodge CornStick Pans, and they come out awesome! Sorry guys, my recipe is at home in the drawer.
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): We use these places because we don't have health insurance.. It's much cheaper than a regular doctor, especially.. like you said, when you already know what you have. When I did have insurance I would go to the doctor for the same things over and over, to get the medicine to fix it. (UTIs anyone? I KNOW when I have those!)
@MostlyHarmless: Wow.. that is rockin. I'm hoping our insurance goes down when we are up for renewal because my husband and I will click over to age 25 by then.. We'll see what happens.
@pecan 3.14159265: Dang! You always have fun things for lunch. I am stuck with drive through. (Actually most of the times, I make my own lunch at home.)
@Pixel: Spam was created the same year as the Smoke Jumpers program was started, and every Smoke Jumper has a can of Spam in their kit bag. So it's no worse for you than jumping into a fire with a parachute.
@katia802: I sort of know how you feel. My previous job, whenever I'd be working on a project I would send constant updates as to my status and the project status. I would never hear feedback until it was done, and then I'd have to go back and change like 50% of what I had just done. >_<
That or they'd constantly walk into my office with (what they thought was) mission-critical shit when I was already hammered with other stuff to get done (which really was mission-critical).
@Oranges w/ Cheese in rainy Central FL: We wondered this as well when we traveled. If you use one of the razors with detachable razor heads, you may be able to get away with hiding the razor heads in the middle of your baggie of travel size shampoos.
If you have an empty nalgene bottle, there's no liquid in it (cause, duh, empty) so they wouldn't confiscate it, I don't think.
@bornonbord: What you say is true: Recipe here: [thesouthernreceipt.blogspot.com]
It was so good I finally started the food journal my friends kept telling me I should do!
@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: Yeah, crossing the 25 line was a major boost.
@Oranges w/ Cheese in rainy Central FL: If I had USAA, I wouldnt want to switch.
@Oranges w/ Cheese in rainy Central FL: It's actually 3.4 ounce bottles that you can bring.. as far as the razor I don't know for sure but I think they're not allowed.
Go to the TSA site to see what you can and can't bring:
@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: Yeah, I have a good idea of what I have, and it's wholly unpleasant. I had to get a new doctor, and I hope I picked the right one, but I also can't remember what my co-pay is because I've only been to the doctor once in the last year.
@GitEmSteveDave_IsPyroclastic: All my cast iron pans are either way too big or way too small for my favourite recipe, and the recipe also makes just enough cornbread for the spouse and me to share. I compensate by heating the hell out of the pan that I do use. Mmm. . .crispy!
@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: I read that a lot of hospitals and doctor groups fight these sorts of clinics, but it seems to me like they keep routine illnesses out of urgent care and the ER, saving money and preventing dangerous backups.
I understand the medical records and continuity of care issues, but not that many people have care continuity to begin with, and one can always transfer one's records.
@floraposte: Will you share the apple turnover recipe? I'll be in need of a good one soon and don't feel like testing the ones I have to find the perfect one at the moment.
@Oranges w/ Cheese in rainy Central FL: I was able to take a safety razor and an empty bottle last time I flew, which was to New Jersey. It's the amount of liquid in the bottles they care about, not the size of an empty bottle. I wouldn't put small amounts of liquids in large bottles, though, just to save the inevitable hassle.
@MostlyHarmless: I work in a HUGE hospital complex. In the phone/internet services department. You'd think if someone needed a repair, or had to pass along information on a downed program that it wouldn't be an issue to provide details. Instead, i get calls from users asking why the system is down, only to find out when I check in on it that i was left off the e mail list because i didn't need to know! Happens to the repair guys, me (i send the repair guys out) everyone. And people wonder why hospitals are so slow.
@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!:
thank you--I sort of figured that after thinking for a bit. It's weird that these dealers are just as creepily evasive even on this end of things.
I made the best jalapeno-cheddar cornbread last night, and had some of the leftovers for breakfast. It was still so good the day after that all I can think about is if I should eat the last piece or save it for my husband.