So, the doctor guessed at the swine flu diagnosis and didn't actually test for it. Frankly, I don't know why people freak out when you say that you had swine flu other than it sounds terrible. I'm actually glad he didn't test for it because it wouldn't have been covered by my insurance anyway. In fact, the totally 100% standard blood test wasn't covered by my insurance either. So glad I have insurance to not cover simple shit. They're a big company and they don't have time to deal with my bullshit, right? I'll just give them $1800 a year, my company can give them another $4000 a year in premiums and they get to tell me to fuck myself. I think I'm going to start a service that required you to pay me about $2500 a year. You call me up and say, "Hey, I need about $150 of that $2500 to pay for this test, could I get that transferred to my account?" and tell you, "No, go fuck yourself." And then you go out and protest reforming my system, saying that government intervention in my system will "halt progress", or stifle competition in the "go fuck yourself" market or could cost you more money in the long run for me to tell you to go fuck yourself. Soon, I have enough money to run ads that say, "The government wants to get between you and the company that tells you to "go fuck yourself". Who are you going to listen to? The Government? Or...hey,...by the way, go fuck yourself. - Paid for by Go Fuck Yourself." Then, you're so scared and hypnotized by my ads and media blitz, you don't know where to go anymore. Then you get sick. You need that test, but who's there for you? Your doctor? Nope. Your family? Nope. That's right, it's me....now lean in real close....closer....closer..........even closer......shhhhh......quiet.....almost there....."go fuck yourself".

You drop into a deep, deadful sleep, ripe with infection, your "go fuck yourself" card in your hand drops like a dead leaf to the floor. But hey, you died an American. Supporting capitalism at it's finest. You showed those socialist hell-holes what it really means to die like a patriot. I'm sure they'll learn the error of their ways. Because they don't have a person to tell them to go fuck themselves when it comes to medical costs. See, they're missing out! Christ on a cracker, those people don't even know what a co-pay is? Imagine that, not partially paying for your medical costs? Oh, the humanity! Oh, dear lord, imagine the pain they must feel when they go to the doctor's office with confidence and security that they're entire life savings won't go to Cigna or Blue Cross in case they need major hospitalization. The Mexicans that I saw in the ER getting their kids a simple checkup must feel such joy as they scrap together every last cent to pay the cash price (as opposed to the billed later price of 4X the cash price). As they hand over that last dollar, the sheer American pride must wash over them like Uncle Sam and an American Eagle were double penetrating their orifices.

But, I'm naive. I'm misinformed. I'm just spouting liberal talking points and not talking any real world statics or...you know what, go fuck yourself. All I know is that fucking Blue Cross won't even pay for a fucking FRACTION of a simple blood test. Christ, getting my blood type isn't covered! Luckily my deductible FOR MY BODY is $250. I can afford that. But my car insurance covers more things on my car than my health insurance does on my body. No one finds that odd? I sure as fuck do.

Oh, and all of you people, of the remaining two that read my LJ, that believe that people should go to the ER for common everyday GP or Famliy Practice shit....go fuck yourself. The ER is equipped and built for.....wait for it....EMERGEN-FUCKING-CIES!! Luckily, what my wife had, was a kind of emergency. They were equipped for that. They knew what to do. But there were too many people in there for colds, flu and checkups. The lobby was filled with babies and children there for their routine physicals. It was 9:30 at night! I could count that actual emergencies on three fingers and the place was packed.

The best part was when they had someone come in to discuss payment options. When the word "options" follows "payment", it's gonna be expensive. My wife's procedure was slotted into the middle of five possible categories of payment. That cost us $667 for what they did. The nurses then spent the next half hour finding out ways to hack the system to our advantage. Let me repeat: part of a nurses' job now is informing a patient on ways to hack the system to the patients' advantage. That's fucked up. They should be, I don't know, out NURSING SHIT. But the system is so twisted to favor the insurance companies, they have to do this for what they determined as poor people without insurance. Yep, Marla didn't have insurance and she wasn't on mine (for other awesome ass-raping reasons), so they thought we were poor. So they gave us a list of free clinics for her next round of tests because if we did it there, it would be $450. Other places, $25. Also, they asked if we had an IV, we said no, they gave us water. "Oh thank God." the nurse said. "Why?" we asked with foreboding. "Because that would have been another $500." I wanted to punch something or someone. That's right. A bag of sterilized salt water would have cost $500. But, Andrew, IV's are an expensive process to generate....ah, go fuck yourself. That's a week's worth of pay for some people out there and it shouldn't cost them $500. It shouldn't.

All in all, my wife is fine. The people there did their jobs. They did them happily. They made us feel good about the decisions they were making. The only thing we felt was disdain for the insurance industry for fucking up a system filled with kind people trying to be kind to other people. Inserting profit into care is evil. It's fucking evil. If you defend it, go fuck yourself. If you want this system to continue and if you have the retarded thought that it will self-correct, go fuck yourself. If you think what I said is all bullshit, then you get that call that your wife is going to the ER, you make that drive, wondering if she's okay. You enter that room and see the machines and the tubes. You push her wheelchair. Wait with her for six hours, hold her hand and tell her everything is going to be okay. Do that and then have someone come in ask, "How would like to pay for this?" If you think that the way we should run healthcare, you're a cold, shameful person who deserves the experience you defend. Enjoy the bills. Enjoy the collection calls. Enjoy being "un-insurable" for life. Enjoy it and then go fuck yourself.

Definitely needed that 10 minute nap. I love the "quiet room" at work. Thank you Mr. Sandman for your rejuvenating powers.

Day 4 of eating clean...as much as possible. Raw veggies, salads, proteins, small amounts of whole grains, a few complex carbs like sweet potatoes. We've seriously reduced the amount of dairy in our diet as well. I weighed 163.7 on Tuesday. Weighed in at 161.2 on Thursday. That's probably mostly latte and bread weight. We're going to try to do this as much as possible over the next 30 days to see how it changes our body. Workouts can be up to twice a day with weights in the morning and a mid-afternoon cardio. I'm usually spent by the end of the day.

Things I already miss:

• Whole milk lattes
• French bread
• The occassion cookie or sweet
• Hamburgers

Went to CheeseCake Factory last night with Duckie and Or and Or was extremely supportive by eating a butter sandwich before the meal and then getting the Chicken Piccata complete with Lemon Butter sauce and a pile of parm cheese on top. Marla, Duckie and I all had salads of some type. Had about 1/4 of my non-fat vanilla latte before it became undrinkable. Just didn't taste right.

But, other than missing certain foods, we're doing okay. Its not a crazy change and if you eat every three hours or so, you don't notice that you're missing food. You cheat when you starve yourself.

Oh, and beer, I miss a glass of beer!!

If you read lumpyhead then you know we've been destroyed by taxes this year. Literally, what would have been a downpayment on a $350,000 house is now Uncle Sam's and Mother CA's. We blame ourselves for not being stupidly frugal with every last living cent and living our life, visiting friends, buying stuff and having fun. But, alas, those wild and wooly bully days are behind us. The IRS has taught us a valuable lesson: "Quit having fun, stupid Americans!" So, we are.

Anything that is not absolutely needed to survive (for my home business as well) has been cut. Any monthly memberships to anything has been cut. No gyms, no more water deliveries, no YMCA, no Netflix, no nothing. We'll be keeping the AT&T Uverse account, but I'll cut the TV part down to nothing and keep the fiber optic internet because I use that for my freelance work.

Next up is the W4s. I'll go from claiming 3 to 1 and Marla will go from 4 to 1. <--- This was probably our biggest mistake. Lesson learned. We'll pay more taxes during the year as opposed to getting assraped on Tax Day. We were slightly prepared, but not for this large of a hit.

I enrolled in my company's 401k, even though %'s are shit, 10% of my gross income will go to the pre-tax shelter.

For the first times in our lives, we'll be on a payment plan for our taxes. We should be able to fix this by draining all our savings and then making payments over the next six months. Just in time to save for next year's tax raping. 

Mar and I will be living lean from now on. Goodbye big backyard parties, you'll be missed. Blame our greedy uncle.

Went to go pick up the iMac from the Apple store at lunch. I'm clearly in a hurry, carrying a giant iMac box when a woman in a group of other women notices me as I'm passing them and says, "What's wrong with it?"

"Huh?"

"What's wrong with it?"

"Its fucking broken."

As I walk away, I hear, "That was rude."

Yes, that was rude, you nosy chick. Do you ask every single random person carrying a box with a picture of an item on it, "What's wrong with it?" Could be nothing wrong. I could be carrying not a computer in the computer box. I could be carrying pies or chickens or chicken pies in it. What the f business is it of yours? How about I ask you what's in your purse? Huh? You don't want to show what's in your purse? Why? Is that an invasion of your privacy or just plain stupidly weird to ask people what's wrong with the thing in the box that might or might not be there, not knowing anything about the situation or who I am?

I kept walking, gleeful in my jerkiness.

LBP is good.
LBP is ever better with soup, chocolate and good friends. We were up until 2:30. It was awesome.

Now, my brain is awake at 9 am. I have a cat sleeping on me and a few hours of freelance work ahead of me. Ah, Saturday morning.

GOLD: Prologue (SD) from David Nett on Vimeo.

GOLD: Prologue - Dark Clouds Gather

Two years prior to the rest of the series, the Silver-medal winning American Goblins & Gold team (and friends) gather for an all-night gaming session in celebration of team captain Jonathan's upcoming wedding. When star player Richard senses that Jon's loyalties are divided between the Game and his soon-to-be bride, he forces a confrontation.

written by: Andrew R. Deutsch & David Nett
directed by: Andrew R. Deutsch
cinematography by: Nolan Wang
edited by: Alex Lamb
featuring: Robert John Brewer, James Paul Xavier, Nathan Mobley, Rick Robinson, David Nett, Gary Karp
production staff & crew: Travis Andersen, Jacob Carver, Marla Deutsch, Kyle Dickinson, Sasha Harris, Shannon Nelson, Patty Ramsey, Chad Schnaible, Max Well, James Paul Xavier

To honor the show that "let go" my wife this year, here are some of CSI:NY's worst lines:

• "Movie and a murder, hell of a double feature." 
•  "You luge, you lose."
•  "Welcome to the home of the free and the land of the depraved." 
• "When mind, body and spirit come together, anything is possible. Even murder!" 
• "College tuition: $40,000. Room and Board: $10,000. Puking and passing out on your parents' dime: Priceless."
• "She was stabbed with an icicle?" That's cold." 
• "Unless someone RSVP'd as murderer, how do we know who's important?"
•  "I've slept with a lot of women. Some wild, some crazy. Some both." 
•  "I love the smell of cover-up in the afternoon. Don't you?" 
• "Yeah, traffic was murder." 
• "Two dead doves, one dead bride.Looks like foul play to me."
• "Those are no canine's canines."
• "Post-mortem bites on the face and arms were the appetizers. The gunshot wound was the main course." 

Still a top show, but at times, horribly written. I hope their new 2nd 2nd sucks as much as these lines. 

Respect carries you far in pretty much every industry aside from politics and even then it can carry you far. The argument of respect has been argued on both sides of the issue on Prop 8. Those opposed want the government to respect their rights as citizens of California and allow them the optional right of marriage. An option that straights have and want respected on the Yes side of the issue. They want marriage to be respected and solidified between a man and woman.

It comes down to the basic idea of respect on both sides of the issue.

But here's where Yes breaks down, again, for me. They have no concept of respect. To be precise, they have no respect for children. Ironic, right? Being that one of the cornerstones of their campaign was to protect children from being mandated to be exposed to gay marriage. They just forgot to extend their protection of children from their own marketing. In late October, parents of children featured in ads in support of Yes on 8 showed imagery of children. Imagery filmed during a field trip
organized by parents of 18 first-graders at a public charter school in
San Francisco. A field trip that every parent had to sign permission slips and could opt out of. The parents of those children balked and wanted their imagery removed from the ads because the parents did not give consent. Turns out, when it comes to political ads, you don't need the parents consent to show imagery of children. They tried to appeal to the Legislature, but that will prove too little too late. So, the parents did the only thing they could and appeal to Frank Schubert, the campaign manager of Yes on 8, to remove their kids from those lie-filled ads.

"I want to ask him how he would feel if his children were manipulated like this." She [the parent] wanted to appeal to him as a moral human being. "This is our last hope,"

But Schubert wouldn't talk to them. In fact, Schubert called security and had them escorted from the building.

The attorney for Schubert and Yes on 8 responded with a letter taking no responsibility for use of the footage, in turn, placing the blame on the parents for allowing their children to be filmed in the first place and being used as "props" in the debate. The letter also called the marriage a "staged publicity stunt".

See, he didn't have to use the imagery of the children, he chose to. He chose to continue using them without paying them a cent. He chose to use those children as pawns. He chose the low road.

So, if you support Yes on 8, this is your man. This is your leader. Your beacon. Bask in his glow. But be assured of one thing, this man lacks respect. For anyone. He has shown himself to be a vile coward and a nightmare of human being. "Oh, Andrew, don't name call, that won't get you anywhere." If it was your kid, you'd do much worse. If it was my kid or a friend of mine's kid, there wouldn't be any sum too high for me to spend taking Frank Schubert to court. I would do everything in my power to lobby for the same kind of simple rules my wife has to abide to when they have children on set, that every political ad, regardless of content, has to adhere to: a basic form of legality when using talent. Because if you don't, this is what you get. Adults using children, against their will, for their own subhuman purposes.

So, from this point on, if you supported Yes on 8 and don't denounce the despicable actions of your famed leader, I have no respect for you. None. Don't come to my house, don't be anywhere near me. Because you're a hypocrite. You're a liar and you're disrespectful to your fellow human being.

Contributions in opposition or support of Prop 8 in my neighborhood of 91506 (Burbank):

Opposed: $2,850

Supporting: $8,346

On the whole, anti-gay individuals out-donated pro-gay individuals 4 times as much in my neighborhood. My fear is that even if Prop 8 is rejected, we'll have to continue voting on this every single election as anti-gay groups and individuals will pour thousands and thousands of money into revoking someone's right to show the world they love someone else. Even in this downturn economy, those people will find the cash to support hate, ignorance and exclusion.

But I was right about this "ban" on gay marriage and how it would hurt the wedding community economically.

NYTimes article link

With a California budget deficit over $10 billion and a looming 1.5% sales tax increase, the religious right, conservatives and a majority of the California population basically told hundreds of small businesses that their bottom line didn't matter or the people they employ didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was saving marriage from the boogieman.

No child's mind was confused or destroyed in the last few months. No marriages were destroyed in the last few months. Gay marriage wasn't dictatorially taught in schools in the last few months. In fact, not one person who voted for Prop 8 was negatively affected by gay marriage. Not one. (if you can prove to me without a shadow of a doubt that gay marriage destroyed your marriage, I will apologize) Yet, through their fear and lies, they did manage to crush something other than gay's right to marry...they crushed a major California infrastructure. And to that, I say congratulations to all of you "Yes on Prop 8" voters. A quote from Frank Schubert, the campaign manager for Protect Marriage:

“I can’t imagine that returning to the history of 4,000 years before that is going to cause an economic upheaval.”

Smart. Yes, returning CA to ancient ideals where salt & bulls were a fucking commodity wouldn't affect a world living in the year 2008. Good thinking. A perfect backbone to a successful campaign of backwards thinking and scare tactics. But remember, in his timeline, people rode down the aisle on dinosaurs.

Way to go, Yes voters, on not seeing the long term effect that this amendment would have on our state and basically stealing $64 million in tax revenue. You've slowed economic progress, tourism and even church revenues. Fantastic. Way to go. Good job. You really came together and managed to actually fuck up straight people's hopes and dreams as well.

MY CRISTMASS LIST

Itunes,old navy, target, pac sun, apple, PB teen(MY FAVORITE) , or sport authority gift cards.

I like clothes, jewlary, hair stuff, art things, and things for my room. The main colors in my room(s) are

Dad’s-blue,green, and pink
Mom’s- pink and black

I really don’t care what I get because Christmas is really about Jesus’ birth, not getting presents.

(I'm going to bet that presents will be greatly welcomed, but this is cute nonetheless)

I'm sent job posting everyday and they all have a salary range. The most recent being 40k to 70k. Anyone want the 40k as opposed to 70k?

Marla comes from a divorced household with multiple marriages contributing several step-mothers to her situation. She's never been to therapy, never taken a anti-depressant, hardly experimented with drugs, is independent, healthy and with the best of her ability is making sure that her first marriage would be her last.

Andrew comes from married parents, "traditional marriage". Andrew went to years of therapy with co-dependency issues, taken anti-depressants, experimented heavily with drugs and alcohol, drifted through his twenties trying to find an identity, feared commitment, healthy, independent and with the best of his ability is making sure that his first marriage would be his last.

Now, the Yes on Prop 8 people would like you believe that my situation would have been the best situation for a child to grow up into.

( Read more... )

My niece sent out her first email chain letter. How precious. She's all grownz up.

Luckily, tomorrow, I can either ride my bike or walk to the polls. Hopefully, due to it being a residential area that the lines aren't too long. Doesn't matter, though, as I would wait all day and night to vote in this election.

The breakdown:

Presidential:
Obama/Biden

Prop 1A: Yes
Prop 2: Yes
Prop 3: Yes
Prop 4: No
Prop 5: Yes
Prop 6: No
Prop 7: Yes
Prop 8: No!
Prop 9: Yes
Prop 10: Undecided
Prop 11: No
Prop 12: No

Poor Al, did not one of his handlers notice how this might play...

Tonight's experiment: Build your costume in two hours before the big party. Cardboard cutting skills don't fail me now!