2024-01-13 — Deep Freeze

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it, but since it’s causing me some pretty significant issues right at the moment, I guess I will now… My back has been killing me for much of the last week. And with it, the radiating into my groin and hips and knees and ankles.

So fun. So so fun.

I realized this morning, actually maybe late last night, that the information that I sent in for my medical bill reimbursement wasn’t accurate. As I was cleaning up my room, I ran into another bill that was separate from the huge one, and I realized that I had already paid that bill myself and that it actually was not part of the huge bill. I had thought that they had rolled both the office visit and the EGD into one big bill, because it showed up on my itemized list, but then when looking closer, after I saw the paper with the bill information on it that was separate, I realized that even though it was on the big bill in the itemized list, it wasn’t actually part of the total amount on the invoice. It was completely separate and listed as me having already paid it.

So now I get to go back through everything and correct my first submission and send in another submission for this other bill. On the bright side, it means that I might potentially get another couple hundred dollars in reimbursement back. Cross your fingers.

I started getting some responses back from people inquiring about the minivan that I posted for sale. The first three were all scammers, I think, and having not sold a vehicle in a while, I was not familiar with the new scam techniques that have come out recently. Gratefully, I’ve been around enough to figure them out relatively quickly, but one of them was super sneaky. I easily could have given them my login information to my Facebook account had I not been paying close attention.

Each time I catch a scammer, and each time that it’s not just an automated bot scammer, I mention karma and how, if they believe in God, they’re going to have to stand in front of him one day and answer for what they’re doing.

Don’t know if it makes any difference, but maybe?

Anyway, I also was in touch with someone who’s selling a 2012 Subaru Forester. They listed it for $1,200 because it’s got a blown engine. I talked them down to $900, and I spent the majority of the day today driving over to Miguel’s house and shop, picking up his diesel truck and then his car hauler. I had issues even getting into his truck. With everything is cold as it’s been and with the moisture, his door handles were frozen closed. But they weren’t frozen clothes from the outside. There wasn’t any ice at all on the outside. They were frozen closed from the inside. Apparently, water has been leaking in through the door handle and lock cylinder and whatnot and window seal and freezing up inside of his door itself.

It ended up taking me an hour or so just to be able to get his truck’s door open. And if it weren’t for his wife and her hair dryer, I never would have gotten in.

The drive to Tulsa was relatively uneventful. My friend Corey happened to call just as I was getting started, so we chatted for a little while. Once in Tulsa, or broken arrow, actually, I looked at and loaded up the Forester.

It started, but the engine sounds so bad that it’s… Awful. Lots of awful metal noises, and we had to put some old dirty oil in it to even get it started because there was no oil on the dipstick.

Man my back is killing me. 😕

…

It’s been a while since I wrote that. The back is still killing me. 😅

…

And more time. Standing up is helping a little bit.

…

I got the little Forester back to Miguel’s shop, and she helped me unload everything and get it all back and its place. Crossing my fingers that we might get a decent return on this one like we did on the Crosstrek.

Had dinner with Miguel at the restaurant next to his shop. Foolishly ordered something that had meat in it, and now my stomach hates me.

Why did I do that?

I’m not very close to going to bed, but I can tell you right now the rest of the night is going to consist of stopping off to fill my van full of gas because I’m on empty, and I don’t want to have to worry about getting gas whenever I use the van again to work. I’ll probably make a quick pass by the grocery store as well, and then I’ll probably vege out on something for a little bit and then hopefully get my little butt into bed at a decent hour.

It’s really freaking cold. Supposed to get down to -3 tonight, and the wind chill is going to make it feel a gazillion times worse.

Do most people’s fingertips hurt ridiculously when it’s super super cold outside and they get cold? I want to say back in the old days as a kid they would go numb but didn’t hurt. Now, they just hurt like a mother.

Happy deep freeze day.

Lift the world.

~ stephen