Grumpy Snickles

This is kind of like the 25 things - except there are pre-decided questions and it's about you and your spouse, not just you. I'd love to see you put this on your own blog so I can read your answers...

♥ What are your middle names?
Anne, Joel

♥ How long have you been together?
Married 5 1/2 together 7 years

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
3 days

♥ Who asked who out?
I think he asked me out to a movie, I don't remember!

♥ How old are each of you?
I'm 32, he's 33

♥ Whose siblings do/ did you see the most?
His sister. I have no siblings.

♥ Do you have any children together?
not yet

♥ What about pets?
2 fuzzy cats, and a tank full of fish

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
I think infertility has definately been hard to deal with.

♥ Did you go to the same school?
Nope, we didn't even live in the same country!

♥ Are you from the same home town?
No, different countries

♥ Who is smarter?
We are both smarter at different things. For example, I spell really well, but suck at Math. Austin is good at math, but can't spell at all.

♥ Who is more sensitive?
Definately me.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
mexican

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Holland

♥ Who has the craziest exes?
Me, although my exes weren't all that crazy.

♥ Who has the worse temper?
Totally me. I think I've only seen Austin get mad once!

♥ Who does the cooking?
Me mostly, only because I am a control freak. He is an excellent cook though.

♥ Who is more social?
Definately me, in most situations

♥ Who is neater?
Definately HIM. I am a slob!

♥ Who is the more stubborn?
Me, without a doubt.

♥ Who hogs the bed?
Me again. and I hog the covers too. Between me and the cats who also sleep on the bed, there isn't much room left for Austin!

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
Used to be me but i seem to sleep longer now

♥ When was your first date?
July 12, 2002

♥Where was your first date?
Dinner at Rock Bottom. I had smoked salmon fish and chips and Austin had a chinese chicken salad. We then went to see Mr. Geeves!

♥ Who has the bigger family?
Definately Austin. Although I am closer to my family than he is with his extended family.

♥ Do you get flowers often?
not often, but when he does its great!

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
We try to alternate with my family and his famliy as much as possible

♥ Who is more jealous?
totally me

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
from the moment we met!!! I knew he was a keeper.

♥ Who eats more?
depends on what it is! Usually him but I have my moments

♥ Who does/ did the laundry?
I do the laundry and we put it away together

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
Definately Austin

♥ Who drives when you are together?
It depends. If we are in my car I drive, if we are in the mini cooper he drives.

This article from the Denver Post is an incredibly interesting one, and one I completely agree with. As a Canadian living in the US, I long for the days back when I still lived in Canada and didn't have to worry about co-pays, making sure I was within network, and non-coverage for things such as blood work becuase I miscarried again. Not only that, but in the last year we have spent over $10,000 in infertility treatments becuase my medical plan doesn't cover infertility treatments, which is now being paid off painfully slow as it's on my credit card and we have absolutely nothing to show for it. It'd be less painful (although still painful) if we were actually pregnant. I shudder to think if either one of us got something like cancer. You'll get diagnosed with cancer, but by the time you are done with chemo etc you will have such a huge medical bill you won't be able to pay for it.

A for profit medical system is bad business, except for the executives who make money off people who are sick and need care.



http://www.denverpost.com/popular/ci_12523427?source=pop

perspective
Debunking Canadian health care myths
By Rhonda Hackett

As a Canadian living in the United States for the past 17 years, I am frequently asked by Americans and Canadians alike to declare one health care system as the better one.
Often I'll avoid answering, regardless of the questioner's nationality. To choose one or the other system usually translates into a heated discussion of each one's merits, pitfalls, and an intense recitation of commonly cited statistical comparisons of the two systems.

Because if the only way we compared the two systems was with statistics, there is a clear victor. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to dispute the fact that Canada spends less money on health care to get better outcomes.

Yet, the debate rages on. Indeed, it has reached a fever pitch since President Barack Obama took office, with Americans either dreading or hoping for the dawn of a single-payer health care system. Opponents of such a system cite Canada as the best example of what not to do, while proponents laud that very same Canadian system as the answer to all of America's health care problems. Frankly, both sides often get things wrong when trotting out Canada to further their respective arguments.

As America comes to grips with the reality that changes are desperately needed within its health care infrastructure, it might prove useful to first debunk some myths about the Canadian system.

Myth: Taxes in Canada are extremely high, mostly because of national health care.
In actuality, taxes are nearly equal on both sides of the border. Overall, Canada's taxes are slightly higher than those in the U.S. However, Canadians are afforded many benefits for their tax dollars, even beyond health care (e.g., tax credits, family allowance, cheaper higher education), so the end result is a wash. At the end of the day, the average after-tax income of Canadian workers is equal to about 82 percent of their gross pay. In the U.S., that average is 81.9 percent.

Myth: Canada's health care system is a cumbersome bureaucracy.
The U.S. has the most bureaucratic health care system in the world. More than 31 percent of every dollar spent on health care in the U.S. goes to paperwork, overhead, CEO salaries, profits, etc. The provincial single-payer system in Canada operates with just a 1 percent overhead. Think about it. It is not necessary to spend a huge amount of money to decide who gets care and who doesn't when everybody is covered.

Myth: The Canadian system is significantly more expensive than that of the U.S.
Ten percent of Canada's GDP is spent on health care for 100 percent of the population. The U.S. spends 17 percent of its GDP but 15 percent of its population has no coverage whatsoever and millions of others have inadequate coverage. In essence, the U.S. system is considerably more expensive than Canada's. Part of the reason for this is uninsured and underinsured people in the U.S. still get sick and eventually seek care. People who cannot afford care wait until advanced stages of an illness to see a doctor and then do so through emergency rooms, which cost considerably more than primary care services.
What the American taxpayer may not realize is that such care costs about $45 billion per year, and someone has to pay it. This is why insurance premiums increase every year for insured patients while co-pays and deductibles also rise rapidly.

Myth: Canada's government decides who gets health care and when they get it.
While HMOs and other private medical insurers in the U.S. do indeed make such decisions, the only people in Canada to do so are physicians. In Canada, the government has absolutely no say in who gets care or how they get it. Medical decisions are left entirely up to doctors, as they should be.
There are no requirements for pre-authorization whatsoever. If your family doctor says you need an MRI, you get one. In the U.S., if an insurance administrator says you are not getting an MRI, you don't get one no matter what your doctor thinks — unless, of course, you have the money to cover the cost.

Myth: There are long waits for care, which compromise access to care.
There are no waits for urgent or primary care in Canada. There are reasonable waits for most specialists' care, and much longer waits for elective surgery. Yes, there are those instances where a patient can wait up to a month for radiation therapy for breast cancer or prostate cancer, for example. However, the wait has nothing to do with money per se, but everything to do with the lack of radiation therapists. Despite such waits, however, it is noteworthy that Canada boasts lower incident and mortality rates than the U.S. for all cancers combined, according to the U.S. Cancer Statistics Working Group and the Canadian Cancer Society. Moreover, fewer Canadians (11.3 percent) than Americans (14.4 percent) admit unmet health care needs.
Myth: Canadians are paying out of pocket to come to the U.S. for medical care.Most patients who come from Canada to the U.S. for health care are those whose costs are covered by the Canadian governments. If a Canadian goes outside of the country to get services that are deemed medically necessary, not experimental, and are not available at home for whatever reason (e.g., shortage or absence of high tech medical equipment; a longer wait for service than is medically prudent; or lack of physician expertise), the provincial government where you live fully funds your care. Those patients who do come to the U.S. for care and pay out of pocket are those who perceive their care to be more urgent than it likely is.
Myth: Canada is a socialized health care system in which the government runs hospitals and where doctors work for the government.Princeton University health economist Uwe Reinhardt says single-payer systems are not "socialized medicine" but "social insurance" systems because doctors work in the private sector while their pay comes from a public source. Most physicians in Canada are self-employed. They are not employees of the government nor are they accountable to the government. Doctors are accountable to their patients only. More than 90 percent of physicians in Canada are paid on a fee-for-service basis. Claims are submitted to a single provincial health care plan for reimbursement, whereas in the U.S., claims are submitted to a multitude of insurance providers. Moreover, Canadian hospitals are controlled by private boards and/or regional health authorities rather than being part of or run by the government.

Myth: There aren't enough doctors in Canada.
From a purely statistical standpoint, there are enough physicians in Canada to meet the health care needs of its people. But most doctors practice in large urban areas, leaving rural areas with bona fide shortages. This situation is no different than that being experienced in the U.S. Simply training and employing more doctors is not likely to have any significant impact on this specific problem. Whatever issues there are with having an adequate number of doctors in any one geographical area, they have nothing to do with the single-payer system.
And these are just some of the myths about the Canadian health care system. While emulating the Canadian system will likely not fix U.S. health care, it probably isn't the big bad "socialist" bogeyman it has been made out to be.

It is not a perfect system, but it has its merits. For people like my 55-year-old Aunt Betty, who has been waiting for 14 months for knee-replacement surgery due to a long history of arthritis, it is the superior system. Her $35,000-plus surgery is finally scheduled for next month. She has been in pain, and her quality of life has been compromised. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Aunt Betty — who lives on a fixed income and could never afford private health insurance, much less the cost of the surgery and requisite follow-up care — will soon sport a new, high-tech knee. Waiting 14 months for the procedure is easy when the alternative is living in pain for the rest of your life.

Rhonda Hackett of Castle Rock is a clinical psychologist.

I am at the movies waiting for food Inc to begin. Have been looking forward to this movie for a long time.

-- Post From My iPhone

I am waiting for my flight to depart from Vancouver to Denver. It's always a bit sad when I leave to go back home to Denver. I miss Canada...a lot...but my life is in Denver, and a good life it is. But I also really miss being in my "other" home. The more I stay away the more and more I realize I am becoming much more Americna than I really would like. The month of June actually marks the 10th year that I have been in the US, and when I look back at how stupid I was to actually move donw, I am surprised but then again my life probalby would have been much different if I hadn't come down. It was fate I suppose.

Anywhoo, I'm excited to see Austin and the cats and get back into my regular routine. I hope my next trip to Canada is within a year!!!

My moms cooking is the best. Just had another wonderful meal. Yuuuuummy

-- Post From My iPhone

I arrived thursday around 10:30 am after a small delay due to a mechanical issue on our aircraft. A quick swap of the planes and we were off from Denver to Vancouver. I had to clear customs and immigration, and then I attempted to catch an earlier flight to the Island. I was successful, but I had to hurry and it is quite a distance from international arrivals to the island planes. Anyways, i made it and all was well.

Settled in at my parents house, and then we went to see the World Parrot Rescue and Sanctuary. It was a neat experience...very loud but really neat to see all of those birds and in the last room we could walk around with them. We also went to Coombs to see the goats on the roof market, and then went to the Dutch store.

Today we headed to Butchart Gardens and the Victoria Harbor. This is my 3rd trip to the Island since my parents moved here 6 years ago but I have yet to experience Butchart Gardens. It was...in one word....AMAZING. Absolutely beautiful.

Click here to see all of the photos from today! I got some great close up shots of the flowers too...

Why is it that my pants are either too small or too big but never in that happy medium area? I just don't understand.

-- Post From My iPhone

Dude, the fans watching the Detroit Red Wings lose to the Penguins are complete assholes. I can't believe they have been booing for 5 minutes now. The game is over, your team lost, suck it up. Booing is nothing but poor sportsmanship.

but i wanted to be able to put this somewhere where I could come back to it in several years when we actually have the money saved to pay for the adoption. I came across this photo one day while I was on a message board and loved the colors and would like to do something like this for our baby's room. My favorite color obviously is green, but Austin is so sick and tired of everything in our house being green that I anticipate that he will veto it.

But it's SOOOO cute! I love the two toned curtains too.

Apparently the weather gods have mistaken us for a state such as Oklahoma or Kansas. Today we have all sorts of shitty weather again, which popped up out of the blue. A funnel cloud was spotted 1/2 a mile from our house. Freaks the frick out of me. My god. We need to move to Canada where they don't have tornados (well they don't get many).

Jeesh.

This afternoon was an interesting one. I decided to use a gift certificate I had for a pedicure and Austin went to a movie. I was checking my twitter account whilst my toe were being prettied up, and saw there were some reports of tornados in Broomfield and elsewhere in the Denver metro. WTFFFFFFFFF. I hate tornadoes. One would think I would be a little used to tornado warnings going off after living in Atlanta and Kansas City, but alas the fear is still in me, this uncontrollable panic of "oh my god my house is going to blow away with my cats in it".

The storms passed, but not without causing some damage in southeast Denver and Aurora. Luckily, when I got home the cats were safe and sound, and the house was in the same location I left it in. And I wish I had a xanax because my nerves are WAY up there now.

Jeesh

Apparently a tornado was spotted near where we live in broomfield. I am actually out getting a pedicure and I am freaked out our house is being tornado'd away.

Never mind the cats are probably freaked out.


-- Post From My iPhone

I had airline miles on air Canada that were going to expire soon so I booked a quick trip to to visit my parents on Vancouver island. Whoo.

In two weeks from today I will be visiting my home and native land. So excited!!!!

-- Post From My iPhone