When I left my job in 2008, one of my biggest fears was "Will I need insurance?" I was quite happy with my PPO insurance through InCharge (and earlier, the "pretty much everything's covered" dot-com insurance at Citrix). At my height/weight ratio back then, it was pretty much impossible to get private insurance, even HDHP+HSA plans with $5200 deductibles. I went uninsured for 7 months until Tammy took pity on me and we tied the knot.

At first I was a bit nervous about being on an Tammy's plan, as it was a Cigna HMO and I've heard nothing but trash talked about managed care...

• My PPO plans had always allowed me to go a huge variety of doctors. The HMO limited me to... well, choosing from a slightly less huge variety of doctors. I found one I liked and they became my PCP. My doctor's office is rockin.
• The PPO meant I just had to cover my deductible ($200/yr last I remember) each year and then I only paid 10% of the bill. The HMO charged me $20 a visit. I'd have to make several HMO visits a month before I got close to spending as much as the PPO deductible.
• PPOs were always touted as the upper-crust plan, with HMO patients having to wait 2 months to get an appointment, only to sit in an overcrowded lobby for an hour waiting to be seen for 2 minutes before being shuffled off. Under the HMO, pretty much anyone I called for an appointment (doctor, dentist, optometrist, endodontist) scheduled me for the same or next day. Often, they simply said "We've got openings right now. Just stop in."
• PPOs were supposed to be the good guys and help you get treated while HMOs pinched pennies and denied everything. Cigna has approved every single procedure my doctor/neurologist prescribed, including a number of pricey advanced radiology procedures. There was an occasional lag of 3-4 days before it was approved, but that was pretty common according to the medical staff.
• Cigna also called me out of the blue to enroll me in a wellness program because of my height/weight ratio during my last physical. I get a nurse that calls me every month or two to check up on me, ask about diet and exercise, offer advice, forward me relevant news articles or information, etc. It's the first time an insurance company actually took some step *before* I got sick.

All things considered, I've been pleased as punch about managed health care and think that my situation is as least a narrow, anecdotal view of how managed care done correctly can be a good thing.

And I'm writing this HMO love letter because I just heard back that my new $2000/month prescription I'll soon be taking was approved by my insurance company for a $0 copay.

Another year almost over:

• My weight was hovering around 270 in January. I started working with Kat Fieler, an awesome and inexpensive personal trainer, twice a week this year and am down to around 240 now. If I can get down to 200 by the end of 2010, I'll be very satisfied. Even as it is right now, I'm happy with the weight loss, muscle gain, and extra energy I've had recently.
• Besides working out, part of the reason for my weight loss has been the changes to our diet. While we have been gradually altering what we eat since well before 2009, it really kicked into high gear when Tammy started seeing her nutritionist, Tracy Neely, this year. We've now started incorporating a lot more organic foods, a larger variety of vegetables, much less processed foods, green smoothies in the morning, etc. It's been a lot more about finding things we like to eat than forcing us to stop eating something altogether. Eating healthy doesn't mean our food is boring or flavorless and Tammy has become a kick-ass chef. I'm sure I could have lost the weight without the dietary changes we made, but I have no doubt it would have been slower.
• Our honeymoon trip to Alaska was fantastic. We got to see the sights, do the hikes, paddle the kayaks, ride the planes, and hug the statues. While it's hard to imagine topping this trip, it has raised the bar for anniversaries. This year we went ziplining. Next year we'll climb Everest or wrestle a polar bear.
• Our first year as a married couple brought a lot of other "first (blank) as a married couple"; first date night as a married couple, first valentine's day aamc, first time grocery shopping aamc, first odometer palindrome aamc (odometer palindromes amuse me, no idea why). We're getting ready for our second Christmas as a married couple and I couldn't be more content.
• My blurred vision in my left eye (a pretty accurate depiction) ended up being Multiple Sclerosis. This finally explained other mystery symptoms that cropped over over the last 6 months that my Dr ordered all kinds of tests for, but was never able to diagnose before they seemed to clear up on their own. I've got a ton to say about this subject in general, but it will end up being another post sometime in the near future. In the end, I'm not losing any sleep over MS, it's just a name to what I've been frustrated by for the last 6 months.
• Our house fell apart a little bit more this year. We've replaced entirely too much plumbing in it. Tam and I both have a love-hate relationship with the house. We love that we are lucky enough to have one at all, but hate that it's so small, falling apart, and has lost about 60% of its value since we bought it at the height of the bubble.
• Probably the highlight of 2009 has been preparing to become foster parents. We completed the training and home study, got the baby room all set up and stocked, and are just awaiting my fingerprint clearance letter from the FBI so that we can get licensed. We're both as ready as we can be, now we just have to sit and wait.

Overall, a very satisfying year.

Current Mood: content

Now that I'm on Facebook, I've mostly stopped posting on LJ. With LJ, I feel like I need to have something important to say, which I usually don't. Twitter's inane one-liners and jarring, disjointed reply-to tweets were just annoying. Facebook strikes the perfect blend of promoting unobtrusive, minimal conversations/pics/links/whatever that are kept in a logical order.

So many more friends use Facebook over LJ as well, so I'm pretty much abandoning ship and just reading/commenting on LJ from now on. Look me up on Facebook if you want: http://www.facebook.com/mikeycooper

My ability to focus seems to have diminished significantly over the last few months. I find myself forgetting things more frequently and arguing points others aren't even trying to make. I will do something and then need to go back and look at what I just did to see what I'm supposed to do next. In the past week alone, I've forgotten my car keys at the bank, argued against imaginary code designs because I misread IM conversations (twice), forgotten to marinate dinner, forgotten to pack lunch, and left my ATM card in the ATM.

I dunno what happened to distract me so, but it's starting to become very frustrating. It's not like I have all that much on my plate (and apparently not a whole lot going on in my mind). Whatever the cause, I need to figure out how to get back into the swing of things.

Current Mood: senile

Tam and I embarked on our honeymoon last week. We took a 7-day cruise to Alaska that was jam-packed with excursions. Pictures of it can be found on my Picasa album.

Juneau
Our first stop was in Juneau, where we took a nice float plane tour. We got to see a number of forests, mountains, and glaciers up close. The blue glacier ice was especially visible in Juneau. Eventually we landed at the Taku Lodge. We walked around the forest trails there for a bit before getting treated to a delicious salmon feast and learning the history of the lodge and its past owners. When all was said and done, we took another float plane ride back to Juneau.

Skagway
Our next stop was in Skagway, which unexpectedly became the highlight of the trip. Our excursion here was booked with Packer Expeditions. After taking a short train ride on the Yukon Route Railway, we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere next to the Tongass National Forest. Our guides led us on a 3 hour hike across some mildly rugged terrain. We hung back a little bit with Brooke, one of the guides, who pointed out various off-the-trail paths to explore, great photo spots, plants that could be eaten, and general information about the trail. It felt a bit like having our own private tour of the forest.

My favorite photo was from this excursion, for those who don't feel like looking through the 300 pictures in the album:


Ketchikan
After Skagway was Ketchikan, easily the town with the most charm and character of the three we visited in Alaska. Other than the harsh winters, it was the one we could see ourselves most enjoying if we lived there.

In Ketchikan, we did a kayaking/float plane combination excursion. We kayaked around a bit and our guide found and handed us various starfish and talked a lot about the surrounding forest and the necessity for conservation. We also saw a pair of bald eagles guarding their giant nest up in the trees.

Afterward, we had a nice salmon and hummus lunch on the boat before a float plane landed and pulled up. After boarding the float plane, we were flown around the Misty Fjords National Monument. The cliffs and waterfalls were gorgeous and we briefly landed at a small float plane dock to take some pictures. Out the windows of the plane, we were able to see a few pods of orcas at various times during the flight.

Victoria
Our last stop was in Victoria, B.C., where we visited Butchart Gardens, a garden built on top of a former limestone quarry. One of the largest limestone excavation sites was turned into a two-story-deep pit of flowers and plants called the Sunken Garden. Other parts of Butchart are parceled out into theme gardens, such as the Rose Garden, the Japanese Garden, and the Italian Garden. It rained for most of the time we were there, which allowed Tammy to capture some gorgeous close-up shots with water droplets on the flower petals.

Seattle
We got back into Seattle at 8am and our flight didn't leave until 11pm, so we decided to check out the Seattle Aquarium and Woodland Park Zoo. On our way to the zoo, we ran into a Seattle gay pride parade. We hung around for awhile, enjoying the costumed revelers, casting aspersions at the protesters and their "God hates fags" signs/rhetoric, and enjoying the absurdity of the anti-protester protesters and their "God hates fun" and "Marching is a sin" signs.

We also noticed several people running for office marching in the parade (one for Mayor of Seattle, I believe), which was surprising to me. Linking yourself to a gay-pride parade would be a death sentence here in Florida.


...so that was our honeymoon in a nutshell. We both had a blast and it's the first all-about-us extravagant vacation we've been on. I'm hoping it's not the last. This trip made me want to get out of Florida that much more.

Tags: honeymoon
Current Mood: relaxed

I've almost forgotten about LJ ever since finally joining Facebook.

Tam and I started our long-awaited honeymoon vacation. We flew into Seattle yesterday and today we'll be boarding the Norwegian Pearl for a 7-day cruise of Alaska.

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Current Mood: giddy

Back in March, Burn Notice, easily the most enjoyable of the relatively few shows I watch anymore, closed out season 2 with a very satisfying finale that could have worked just as well as the series finale.

This week, three short months later, season 3 started. I wish some of these other shows that take a year or longer to pick back up would figure it out already. I've already forgotten what most of Lost was about, save the last few episodes.

Someone asked how I achieved my fitness goals and the answer was too long to fit in the microscopic reply box. So I'm linking to my answer here instead... cut for those not interested.

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Our favorite local steakhouse, Barney's, shut down last month. I won a restaurant.com gift certificate for Barney's about 9 months ago that we never got around to using. Contacted restaurant.com customer service and they gave me a $25 credit the next day.

While shopping around, I noticed they had added a lot more local restaurants we frequent. I also found a 50%-off Mother's Day discount that expires tomorrow. Between the $25 credit and the 50% off my order, I managed to get a $25 Taste (tapas restaurant) gift certificate, a $25 Melting Pot cert, 2 $10 Urban Flat certs, and 2 $10 Maria Bonita (our new fav Mexican restaurant) certs, all for $11.

If you want some dirt cheap gift certificates to local restaurants, check restaurant.com out soon. The 50%-Off Coupon Code is "MOM" and it expires tomorrow.

Current Mood: thrifty

On my list of "Games You Never Want To Play": Find The Mess

The game starts when the sound of a cat puking drifts down from upstairs.  The objective is to figure out where the pasty pile of partially digested cat food is.

So far, I'm losing this round miserably.

Current Mood: irritated