Rant #3,911: Undun

This is going to be a very difficult Rant to put together for you, but I feel that it is my duty to get it done.

I had several doctors' appointments last week, and none of them were good.

Without going into great detail, even though I feel fine, I am not doing well health-wise.

I am going to need a number of procedures done to make me healthy again.

I had a catscan on my lung, because something untoward came up in a previous catscan. I soon have to go and get other tests to make sure that that part of my body is OK.

I have some more cancer on my head, so I got it removed, and hopefully, i won't have to go through the staples thing again.

I have some urological troubles, and they must be taken care of sooner rather than later. I am getting that surgical procedure done On Monday morning, in a local hospital, and I am very nervous about it.

Then I have to get a colonoscopy, where I am hopeful that what is found can be taken care of. And let me tell you, due to circumstances beyond my control, I am scheduled to have this procedure done--

On my birthday, April 28.

And I still have the partially detached retina in my eye, which isn't going away anytime soon.

Again, I am not going into details right now, but if you break it all down, it isn't anything good.

Not good at all ... as the "C word" is a possibility.

As I approach my 69th birthday next month, I am a broken person.

My body is failing me.

Maybe I shouldn't complain, since for more than 60 years, my body gave me little to no problems.

I had my gall bladder removed on my 50th birthday, but honestly, that was it.

However, for the past three or so years, my body has taken a downward plunge.

I don't know for sure if it has to do with aging, or things had been brewing for years and no one knew it, but things are absolutely not too good right now.

And again, I feel fine; a minor ache or pain here or there, but nothing to suggest what I am facing.

What i am facing is not just a broken body but also an empty pocketbook, because insurance will only pay for so much, and my money us being drained by all if these doctors' visits and procedures that i need.

Let me add that I am not giving up on work.

I told the team I work with all about this the other afternoon, and they were very supportive.

I let them know that I will still be supplying material for them on a daily basis, but that I am going to have to step back from the bigger things, like covering meetings and conventions and the like.

I told them that I still want to be in the loop, and to not forget about me--

Because I might be down and out, but I am not done just yet.

And let's be honest about it--

I desperately need the money.

The same thing goes for the Blog.

I am not giving it up, period.

Maybe some days I might not post anything as all these things are coming up, but I simply will not give it up.

So you will continue to see content at the Blog as we push to Rant #4,000 later this year.

Writing is my salvation.

It makes me feel good, takes away my worries for a little while, and actually, keeps me healthy, so the Ranting and Raving Blog will live on.

You can count on that.

And I will too.

"A mere bag of shells ... ."

Not really, but let's just say that all of this, all at once, is a bit of a speed bump in the road.

Rant #3,910: Summer Is Fun

Springtime is in the air ...

Yes, I know that just three weeks ago, we had a blizzard that dropped two feet of snow in my neck of the woods, and we continue to experience frigid temperatures--and continued threats of more of the white stuff--here and there.

But today, spring actually begins--

Which actually means that the winter isn't really over yet, even if it is actually spring.

I sit here typing this, and I see my original Yankee Stadium chair right behind me, sitting in front of the air conditioner we have in the room.

Its placement is kind of an irony in and of itself, as it sits in front of something--and is itself something--that one doesn't need to use during the cold weather months.

I brought it inside from our terrace because I didn't want this chair to experience the cold, the snow and everything else that the winter brings us.

It is sitting here, but within due time, it will be brought outside again to our terrace, and when the really warm weather comes, I hope to plunk my tuckis right on the seat and enjoy the warm weather after a pretty bad winter.

And since this is a seat that formerly was used in a baseball stadium, you just know that the warmer weather is coming because the proverbial "Boys of Summer" are coming, too.

The World Baseball Classic, the very phony and artificial "international" tournament which interrupts spring training every couple of years, is finally over and done with, and players are getting back to their normal routines to prepare for the regular season.

This tournament is so genuinely nonsense; all I have to do to explain that is that if I were a professional baseball player, I could not only play for the U.S. team, I could play for the Israeli team, and if they had them, the Russian team, the Latvian team, the Polish team--

Based on my family background and heritage.

A tournament that is designed to bring baseball to non-baseball countries has teams from those countries--like Italy and Israel--that are manned by American baseball players whose heritage allows them to play for these non-U.S. teams.

I just find the whole thing a waste of time, something that no one gives a hoot about once it is over.

But now it is over, and REAL baseball is set to begin next week.

Thank goodness for that!

And again, even a hint of baseball suggests that winter is over, spring is here, and ...

Summer is right around the corner.

So I look at my Yankee Stadium chair, and I know it is misplaced in this room.

It needs to be out on the terrace, in the hot sun, representing that not only is the baseball season ready to begin, but that summer is coming.

And summer is fun--

I can't wait.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again next week.

Batter up!

Rant #3,909: Pay the Piper

Tests, tests and more tests ...

I hated them as a student in school--from kindergarten through graduate school--and I hate them now--as an adult through medical exams.

I have had them this week, I will have them next week, and every new week brings new health tests.

Not only is it taxing on my psyche, it is taxing on my pocketbook.

When you are forced to use Medicare as your only source of health insurance, you are getting near the bottom of the barrel for coverage.

It is a step above Medicaid, but when you really look at it, it is not a giant step above it, just a small step.

Unless you are wealthy and can invest a lot of money in your plan to keep costs down, you are stuck with a plan that doesn't cover that much and where the co-pays are astronomical.

And if you are sick and/or you need constant testing, well, you are outta luck.

Your pocketbook is going to be taking a hit--

Mine has, for sure.

My deductibles are high because that is all I can afford with my measly Social Security and wages.

So for certain things, I have to pay a high price for coverage.

I found that out the other day related to my latest catscan, which I will be taking today.

I received a text to pre-register for my visit to the radiology office, and after I completed everything, I found that they were charging me four times as much for this particular catscan as for any other I have ever taken.

I quickly questioned this over the phone, but every operator I spoke to had no explanation, other than it was related to my deductible, and even though the price was high, it could actually be even higher if they went strictly by the deductible.

I called both the radiology center and my insurance company, and I all I got from them were non-explanations about why this time, the catscan price was four times as high as normal.

After about two hours of this, I was instructed to contact my doctor's office, and find out what code they put in for this particular catscan--was it a "chronic" code--which would lead to a lower, and normal for me, price, or the "catscan" code, which would lead to the higher price.

Just imagine what I went through when I contacted my doctor. They must have though I sounded like a real idiot about this--

And they, too, passed the buck, telling me that they were going to contact the radiology center where I was to get the catscan, and they would contact me about an explanation--

Which they did.

I spoke to the office administrator at the center, who offered me the real reason why I was being charged four times as much for this catscan as compared to any other I have recently had.

According to her, most radiology places charge patients an initial lower price for the catscan in person, but then a followup bill is sent to the person later on to account for the other money owed for the catscan.

So, according to her, those getting catscans generally pay twice for the procedure--once while at the office, and another time with a bill sent through the mail.

The difference this time is that this radiology center--which I have never been to--doesn't do that, preferring to collect all monies owed by the patient up front and right then and there.

No second bills, the bill is paid in full at the time of your visit.

Yes, they will accept partial payment at the time of visit, but you will have to eventually pay the remainder of what you owe at another time.

Thinking of my other recent catscans, I honestly don't remember getting a second bill for any of them, but maybe I have and didn't realize that it was for this reason.

I will have to check my check register ...

But funny, I don't remember a single catscan resulting in another bill.

Maybe it would come months later, months after the catscan, so perhaps I will be getting bills in the mail in the coming days or months, but let me tell you, I have yet to receive any of them--

And I don't ever remember getting a second bill for a catscan.

But so be it.

This is the way this place does it, so I am just going to have to live with it--

And pay for the bill down the line.

Health insurance has changed drastically over the years, with costs rising as more of us live to ripe old ages.

A high percentage of our money goes for health costs, and it is getting worse each and every year.

I guess that now, at age 68 with age 69 right around the corner, I am in that category, where personal health costs are spiraling out of control.

My advice to anyone is to get the best health plan that you can afford once you have to use Medicare, or keep your old plan once you retire if it is part of your benefits/retirement package.

You aren't going to get a very good plan out of Medicare, take it from me.

And as they take my money from me, I know that to be a fact.

Rant #3,908: Elected

Anarchy in New York City ...

Even though the Hamas groupie's mayoralty is just beginning, it is time to think about who should run against him, and his anti-Semitic ideology, when his term expires.
And I have the perfect candidate, one that would satisfy both Democrats and Republicans ... even though this person is a Democrat!

The candidate's name is Jessica Tisch, the current police commissioner.

She has a well-rounded background in city government, and she served under both Mayor Adams and the current mayor, the latter of whom was advised to rehire her as part of his administration because of her cross-party popularity.

If she ran, she would have the support of most of the major unions in New York City--less the teachers' union, which has become so left wing as to defy belief--and she is popular among the citizens of the city.

She would not have to run under the Democratic banner; leave that to her current boss, and she could run as an Independent.

I do believe that at this point in time, she might be the only person who could actually beat the current mayor.

And I believe that Democrats and Republicans alike would vote for her.

Tisch for Mayor!

Let me be the first one to suggest it ...

Although I realize that I am probably not the first person to think that she would be perfect for this job.

I know some of you are going to laugh and shake their heads at all of this, but let me remind you, sometimes I know what I am talking about.

Whether you are a fan of his or not, I was one of the first people to bring up the possibility that Donald Trump--then real estate baron and TV star, nothing more--might run for president of our country.

I said that way back in 2013 or 2014 or so ...

But I also said later on that after he lost to Joe Biden, he would never be elected President again.

Shows what I know.

However, I will stand by my choice of Tisch until the opposition to the current mayor comes up with a better candidate--

Which they won't.

They certainly didn't with Cuomo and Sliwa this time around, so do you expect anyone better?

Not me.

Rant #3,907: Waiting For An Alibi

As much as I don't want to talk about what is happening in the Middle East, I feel that I must say something.

What I am going to say is pretty short and to the point, but it is the way I feel about this.

Let me begin by saying that I back our country, and our President--the one that I did not vote for but someone I accept as our nation's commander in chief--1,000 percent in this war.

Iran was getting to powerful, too brazen in what it had in its stockpile, and was a threat to not only the Middle East, but to everyone worldwide.

Iranians the world over applauded what our country did--and what Israel did too--to try to make things right there, and sure, there were other Iranians who backed the-then current regime, but funny, most of them that I saw and heard spout their phony rhetoric actually lived outside of Iran.

Anyway, we and Israel went in there, obliterated much of the country, yet they still come at us.

These people are crazy. They don't care about dying, because they feel that they will be looked at as martyrs if they perish.

Their ways are not Western, their ideology is not anything that we can comprehend in the modern world.

So this war isn't going to take a week or two or three to finalize.

It might take not days, weeks, or months, but years.

We are dealing with a different enemy here, and they fight--and die--differently than we do.

Here is where I am going to make a statement that will rile some people, but I do believe others will support it--

And believe me, I hate to say what I have to say, but I have to do so.

Here goes--

The war against Iran ... It will only come to an end when other Arab countries, as well as our so-called allies worldwide--join Israel and the U.S. in this war, and when we at least attempt to negotiate a settlement off of the battlefield. 

The other Arab countries' reluctance to fully join us in this battle simply demonstrates that they would rather be attacked by Iran than side with those looking to make the Middle East a safe place. 

It also demonstrates that once an Arab, always an Arab, when it comes to Israel, and they cannot be trusted. 

Look at Qatar. They are supposed to be a moderate country, but they have Hamas officials living and working there. 

And people tend to forget, but Saudi Arabians perpetrated 9/11. 

Our allies ... they need to do something to assist us. They know that this initiative is a right one, but as the President said, there have been no response.

Sounds of silence often speak louder than words do.

That is the reality, and until everyone understands that, this isn't going to end so soon. 

I am sorry to say this, but it is true.

And if that doesn't sink in yet, it will ...

Believe me, it will, if it hasn't already done so.

Expect prices to go sky high on everything--

I foresee gas will go past $4 a gallon, maybe even higher than that.

Certain stations in California are selling gas at more than $8 a gallon ... already.

Expect to pay more for everything, groceries, and I mean, everything.

Thinking this way, is it worth fighting this war?

Yes, I think it is, but the President stating it will only last a few days or weeks ...

God, I hope he is right--

But I simply can't see it, at least at this point in time.

So get on your seat belts, I believe we are going to need them.

And I hope, really hope, that I am wrong in all of this.

But I don't see a united front in the Middle East, I don't see our allies joining the fight, and until and unless those supposedly moderate countries put their collective tails between their legs and admit that we--and primarily Israel--are on the right side here, this might be the most difficult war this country will ever fight.

And again, I really hope that I am wrong in everything I just said.

Until then, I support this war ... but I simply believe that in general, people are tiring of it, and it will become an unpopular exercise not because it isn't the right thing to do, but because it is hitting average Americans where it hurts the most--

And when your pocketbook hurts, very little else matters.

Rant #3,906: All By Myself

A lot of information has come out recently about New York City Mayor Mamdani's lovely wife, who has put up dozens of likes regarding the Oct. 7 massacre of Jews and now, has supplied artwork for an essay authored by someone who also glowed about this massacre, calling it "spectacular."

Funny, nary a word from anyone standing up to this hate, and the mayor, himself, backed his wife, who he said is a "private person."

Where is the news media covering this?

The same place that they are when it was discovered that the mayor was hosting a dinner where one of the invitees was the leader of the Columbia University anti-Jew, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic protests last year.

Nowhere to be found.

Back to the Misses ...

Could you imagine, God forbid, if her direction was against people of color? People would be in such an uproar that her husband would be forced to resign his post as mayor.

And the media would be on top of this like a bee with honey.

But since it is against Jews, it is pretty much brushed aside as if it really doesn't matter.

Hate is wrong, period, and this woman shows no bounds.

And since she is New York City's "First Lady," her behavior is reprehensible ... but anyone with a brain--not too many people in New York City, obviously, including the imbecile Jews who voted for her husband--knew that this was going to happen when her husband was elected.

You get who you vote for, and city voters are among the most ignorant and quite frankly, most stupid voters on the planet. They would have voted for Hitler if he was on the Democratic ticket.

And Governor Hochul is no better, supporting this trash during his mayoral run and thus, his anti-Semitic behavior.

But again, you get who you vote for, but why are Jews treated on a different level than other minorities when it comes to hate?

Mamdani's lovely wife follows a pattern of New York City First Ladies who are kind of strange, to say the least.

Let's look at some of them.

Mayor Adams wasn't married when he held his office, but he had been married in the past. You might remember that when he was elected, there was some controversy that didn't last too long that he wasn't even in New York City most of the time prior to winning the mayor's race, and that he had been shacking up with some lady in New Jersey for quite a long time.

Mayor deBlasio was supposedly married to a self-proclaimed lesbian who he fathered two kids with. His wife got into government through him, and supposedly squandered millions of dollars in funds. Once he was out of Gracie Mansion, his wife dumped him.

Mayor Bloomberg had been married but wasn't during his time in office, and you might remember that when reporters asked him about his personal life, he told them that his life was his own, and not to bother him on the weekends, when he was supposedly out of the city and was breaking bread with some woman who was never identified.

Mayor Giuliani was married to Donna Hanover, a former TV reporter, but she accused him of infidelity and divorced him, and quite frankly, he has had several relationships with other women, and they have never spoken kindly about him.

Mayor Dinkins had the most stable of the marriages of any recent mayor, and he and his wife were together for more than 60 years.

Mayor Koch was never married, although he was linked to Bess Myerson, but many people said that this was simply a cover for his actual sexuality, which was not homosexual, but non-sexual ... that is what was said about him, if you want to believe it.

Mayors Beame, Lindsay and Wagner all had stable marriages--although Lindsay was linked to numerous other women during his mayoralty, including Florence Henderson of "The Brady Bunch"--and that is as far back as I can go.

So Mamdani's wife is simply following a recent line of New York City First Ladies who are kind of odd.

Maybe it is a prerequisite for the job ... I don't know ...

But the difference with Mamdani's wife is that her strangeness is fueled by blatant anti-Semitism--

And this is with her husband governing, and responsible for, the second largest Jewish population in the world, behind only Israel.

All of this nonsense has come out in only her husband's first three months of being mayor, so you just know that we will find out plenty more about the two Hamas groupies who live in Gracie Mansion in the months, and years, ahead.

Read this:

https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/columnist/387502/an-open-letter-to-first-lady-of-new-york-city/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQjp0xleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF2enJ2WHd2QXJmclU2RHdEc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHoowdz_BLJup3CaVFgcpVZU4SMrbYIMqu2nlZss4KNTjCl8mtK7wMzckGBXS_aem_L3hmeYS6_r4ZEXgMOd7vQQ

Rant #3,905: Hunters and Collectors

I don't mind serious talk here at the Blog, but I think it is time to lighten up as we end the work week.

Yes, I await the outcome of my medical tests, and yes, I have plenty more to come next week, but I don't want to harp on that any more than I already have.

I need to relax, too.

So today, as the work week ends, I just want to talk about something pretty innocuous, something that is a bit lighter than what I have been talking about lately.

I was born to collect things.

When I was a very little kid, I started to collect comic books, as I was an early reader--probably at three years old--and I needed something to read.

Comic books gave me exactly what I wanted, and for years, that was my main collecting source,

I loved mainly the DC universe of super heroes, such as Superman, Batman, and all the others, but I also liked the Marvel group too, in particular Daredevil, a blind super hero that I found quite intriguing, even at a young age.

I continued to collect comic books as I got older, but another collecting passion I had was sports cards, and primarily baseball cards.

I started to get into sports when we moved to Rochdale Village in Queens, New York, and while I was never a good athlete, I just loved to collect, trade, and yes, flip baseball cards.

I collected all different types of sports cards--basketball, football, you name it--and I also collected non-sports cards--TV shows, Beatles, all of them--but my main focus was baseball cards.

In high school, needing money for one thing or another, I very stupidly sold my sports card collection. I regret to this day doing it, because some of those cards would be worth plenty of money today, including a Babe Ruth card that I had.

So going into college, I was still collecting comic books.

From my very young years through high school, my mother, my sister and I had a pretty sizable record collection.

We all listened to the records on our old HiFi, but I really didn't think it was MY collection and MY collection alone.

It really was the family's collection, with my mother buying my sister and my first records, going back to the Chipmunks and moving through the Beatles, the Monkees and Broadway cast albums, the latter of which my mother loved.

My sister kind of took over the collection in the late 1960s and early 1970s, what with David Cassidy and the Partridge Family being her focus, and while I still listened to our records, I kind of moved off record collecting for several years.

When I got to college, I was still collecting comic books, but the people I knew there were diehard music fans, and I kind of eased my way back into collecting records on my own.

I remember that sometime during freshmen year, I decided between the two collections, because I was spending so much money and time on both that it was stretching my time and my finances.

I went with record collecting, and I have never turned back.

When my sister got married, she pretty much left all her records to me, and couple that with my mother's collection, and what I already had, it was a pretty sizable stash, and I have built upon it for the past 50 years or so.

My comic books, although still near and dear to me, kind of collected dust in a closet, a reminder of my childhood, until I sold them off in three batches, the last batch when we moved out of our house to an apartment just three or so years ago.

The first two batches I sold to investors, to be honest with you, but I sold the last portion to a real collector, someone who I felt would enjoy the comic books for what they are, and not investments as the others had.

So that left me with my records as my main hobby.

I still have a few comic books and some non-sports cards here with me, but generally, record collecting is my one and only collecting direction now.

My mother used to say I was a hoarder, but an organized hoarder, and I had to disagree--the first time I ever talked back to my mother, I must have been about four or five years old.

I found my comics in the garbage pail, and I told my mother to never, ever, throw out my comic books again.

And I had those comics that were slated for the garbage to the day I sold the entire collection.

Collecting is not hoarding.

It is putting together things that you enjoy into a sustainable, growing collection of things, whether it is bubble gum cards or matchbooks or thimbles.

My interest is in 45s and LPs, and to a lesser extent, cassettes and CDs.

Streaming is not collecting, because it is nothing tangible; an electronic file is just that, not something that you can hold in your hand and have as a work of art, both audio and visually.

I love vinyl records, and especially those 45 RPM singles, which is a work of art in its own right apart from 33 1/3 RPM LPs.

I haven't dismissed the entire sound file generation we are in now; I digitize my records so I can listen to my collection in my car.

But the satisfaction I get from my collection is beyond belief, and even in times of turmoil, they are my go-to relaxation generator.

So as the weekdays for this week end today--on Friday the 13th--I just wanted to end it on a very light note.

If you are a collector of anything, I am sure you will fully get what I am saying, even if you aren't a collector of anything that I mentioned here.

It is a fun hobby, something that makes me happy even during my darkest periods, of which I have had many lately related to my health.

So whatever you collect, whatever is your hobby, keep going!

It doesn't hurt anyone, and it makes you happy even in times of gloom.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday--

Happy, doom, or gloom.

Rant #3,904: You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

I had my dermatologist appointment yesterday morning, and yes, I did have one growth removed--right near the cancer I had previously removed--so it wasn't a pain-free visit, if you know what I mean.

It really scared me because it is right near the other area on my scalp, but the doctor said it is not necessarily linked with the cancer I had taken off the top of my head, so that made me feel a bit better.

He took this new growth off of me, and I have to put ointment on the spot for the next week or so, so it can heal.

Hopefully, that is the end of it, but I thought the same thing when they took the other growth off of me, and look what happened with that!

So where I stand health-wise is that I am awaiting the results of my catscan and this latest lesion removal, and waiting with baited breath.

I just want the peace of mind to know that I am healthy--

And the detached retina problem I have is at least manageable, at least for now.

Other health concerns have nothing to do with my health, per se, but about how my health is being handled by an outside provider.

The dental aspect of my health is being taken care of by an outside provider from my Medicare insurance, as is my son's dental care.

We chose an outside provider because I wanted to have the best dental care possible--my family has a bad history with our teeth, and it continues with my son--and the Medicare plan we had simply did not cut it, so to speak.

Anyway, we have been with this outside plan for several years, and it does provide exactly what I signed up for.

The problem is the monthly bill.

I know that most plans like this--and most entities that require a monthly bill--have moved over to paying electronically through the Internet, but I guess I am old fashioned, and I prefer to pay as many of my bills as I possibly can through the mail--

Yes, writing an old fashioned check and sending it through the old fashioned U.S. Mail.

Companies do not like this, as doing it electronically, they get their payments immediately.

Well, the dental company we use clearly doesn't like it either, and I told them when we signed up with them that we want to pay by check and through the U.S. Mail.

What has happened is that, pretty consistently, we get two or three bills through the mail, I pay them immediately, and that is that--

But then the next bill never comes, and I get contacted through my email to pay online.

I call up the company, try to be nice about it, they say they will look into it, they look into it, fix it, and the same cycle begins again ...

We get two or three bills through the mail, I pay them immediately, and that is that--

But then the next bill never comes, and I get contacted through my email to pay online.

This has been going on for years, and yes, it just happened again.

I called twice on Tuesday about this continuing situation--

The first time, the operator pretty much refused to do anything about it, the second time, the operator sent me over to the grievance department, and the same thing happened again, meaning they would look into it, eventually fix it, and then--

The next bill never comes, and I get contacted through my email to pay online.

What this does is make my bill paying late on this site, which does impact your credit score.

I have told them this, and they say there is nothing they can do about it.

I tell them that the solution is an easy one; cancel our plans, and then set up new plans with new ID numbers and basically start from scratch, but they refuse to do this.

On Tuesday, the woman I spoke to told me--and remember, this is an employee of the company that I am having the problem with--that I should call the New York State Insurance Department and tell them that I am being "forced" to pay my bill electronically, and see what they have to say about it.

Her telling me this simply tells me that I am not the only one having this problem, and I am currently weighing my options about whether to do this or not.

Look, we all have the right to pay bills the way we want to pay them, and not have that dictated by the companies that serve us.

If you want to pay electronically ... if you want to pay by snail mail ... if you literally want to go to the office and pay in person right then and there each month ... that is your right to choose how you will do it, and the company you are paying doesn't have a say in that decision.

I pay my largest bill of the month--my car bill--by writing a check and sending it to the lender via U.S. Mail.

That is how I choose to pay them, and I have never had a problem paying for my car(s) this way.

Why should this dental company give me all of this grief?

Obviously, there is a quirk in this system which they refuse to address, since most people probably pay their bill to them electronically.

I don't, and I don't think others do, and you cannot force people to pay their bills electronically.

Period.

Let's see what happens this time, but I know exactly what is gong to happen--

We get two or three bills through the mail, I pay them immediately, and that is that--

But then the next bill never comes, and I get contacted through my email to pay online.

Sounds like a broken record, doesn't it?

Rant #3,903: The Waiting Is the Hardest Part

I had my latest catscan on Tuesday.

This one was a little different than what I had had previously.

Usually, you go in, they put you into the machine--

And 1, 2, 3, it is done and over with.

This time, I had to fast for a few hours, and later when I was there, I had to be injected with yellow dye to provide better contrast for what they are trying to see.

This procedure took a bit longer, maybe 10 or 15 minutes while I was in the machine for four separate readings.

Once the dye was injected into me, they said I might feel a slight sensation of heat, and even feel like I had to go to the bathroom, but I got through it, and got dressed and drove home.

About a minute or two from home, I felt that I needed a bathroom, not in an emergency, but I just needed one, and I parked the car, went upstairs, and yes, just let's say that I needed to go.

I just hope they were able to see what they were looking for--I needed this done for the urologist--and that I can move on from this--

Where today, as you are reading this, I am in the dermatologist's office, ready to be seen about that cancer that I had removed from my scalp.

The doctor will look at that--it appears to have healed, but is still quite sensitive, as I found out when I got a haircut the other day--and he will look at other areas that need to be removed too.

Not necessarily cancer, but other skin abnormalities that I might have.

Just about every one of them simply needs to be removed, and are not cancerous, but I really don't mind him tending to this, because the last time, he found something pretty bad--

And it was taken care of.

I have learned over time that even if you do everything healthy, you have absolutely no idea what is happening in your body to upset your system.

You need to get everything checked out to make sure you are running at full capacity.

I know that I am not at that level just yet, but I can get closer by being checked out and given a clean bill of health, and hopefully these things that I have had to do the past two days will show that loud and clear.

If not, then I have to make sure they are taken care of.

If you do not have your health, you have nothing.

It cuts across all of us.

What is the sense of having so much money that you can't enjoy it as a healthy person?

I want to be healthy, so let's see what these tests bring to the fore.

So let me cut this Rant a little short, because as you are reading this, in real time, I am sitting in the dermatologist's office, waiting to be looked at.

I am also waiting for the report about my catscan.

I am nervous about the two of them.

Wish me luck.

Rant #3,902: Jealousy (Envy)

I have many "friends" on Facebook.

Some are real friends, some are true "Facebook" friends.

I am also friendly with many Facebook users who I grew up with in Rochdale Village, Queens, New York.

My Rochdale friends and I are all joined at the hip, even though I haven't seen many of these people in decades.

That was an incredible place to grow up in, and I have made friends--and "friends"--for life from that community.

I just read about another one of us who has retired, and he is setting his future employment path as he retires from the second major job that he has had in his lifetime.

He still wants to work, which is great--

He obviously loves what he is doing, and hopes to continue to do it, or something else, to keep active, busy and vital.

I wished him the best, with the "caveat" that I add seemingly every time I find out that one of my old buddies is retiring--

"I hope that your retirement is better than mine . ... I envy those who can determine their own destiny, and not have it determined for them."

Yes, it is sour grapes on my part, but yes, I really do believe what I say as I wish these people "good luck."

Nothing--

And I mean absolutely nothing--

Has gone right for me since I was forced into retirement going on seven years ago.

A lot of it has been coincidence, such as losing both of my parents right in the middle of this mess.

They lived long, fulfilling lives, and they really lived life to the fullest.

But a lot of the things on my end that I have gone through during the past seven years have really been horrid, and more importantly, completely out of my control.

It all started with looking for work during perhaps the worst period to be unemployed in our world's history, during the pandemic.

I was also in my early 60s in what I learned was a dead field--old fashioned writing/editing, which has given way to the "new" journalism, what you read on the Internet--and it didn't help that I wrote about a field--military resale--that few knew anything about.

Yes, I was lucky to get the job that I eventually got--writing about that same field, military resale--but I never had a chance to retire on my own terms--

Which so many of the people that I know were able to do.

I experience jealousy--or is it envy--every time I hear about one of my peers retiring on his/her own terms, and it really throws me off kilter.

Envy or jealousy?

It has made me jealous, or envious, in a way, traits that I didn't know that I had, because I have never been jealous or envious of anybody or anything that I can recall in my life.

I am working because I have to, but my life was taken away from me when I lost my job right before the pandemic.

My health has definitely suffered--I went from about the healthiest person I know to just the opposite--we lost our house, my family fractured and let's be honest about it, things did not go the way I expected them to go.

I so just want to retire, but I know that I can't.

My family and I need whatever money I make to live in an environment where by being forced to take early Social Security, my monthly payments were fouled up, generating a monthly sum that is unlivable without some other revenue source.

I know I sound like I am constantly crabbing about this, but I wonder why my path to "retirement"--or "retirement purgatory" as I put it--became so messed up.

Reflecting back, I had many, many interviews in both my chosen field--teaching--and when I had to pivot--to editing/writing--when that didn't work out the way it should have.

When I became an editor/writer, I also had many interviews back in the day, with many large firms and companies--

But it just never worked out.

I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In education, I was looking to be either a middle school or high school English teacher, and I ran into a brick wall in trying to do that--

School districts were not hiring teachers during that period of time because of enrollment drop offs, and certainly not English teachers, because I later found out that English teachers stay with the profession longer than teachers in any other discipline.

In editing/writing, I ran into so many brick walls that it is truly amazing ...

Women were being more integrated into the workforce in elevated roles from secretaries, as were minorities in more elevated roles, and I know for a fact that I lost out on several jobs because of my gender and race.

And I had absolutely no "ins," nobody who could open the door for me and help me out.

So I ended up working for smaller concerns, not big companies, and while there are benefits to working for small companies, the negatives are that you basically work for today, not tomorrow, with many of these firms ...

In fact, my last employer only started a 401K plan during my middle period with that firm, so I had already worked at least 10 years there with nothing planned for the future--

And they stopped that plan right in its tracks when things started to go sour.

My family and I are far from destitute, but we are in a position where it is not my "choice" to work, I have to work, and it makes me very uncomfortable, because at this point, I want to hang it up and move on.

My father worked into his 80s, until his hearing became so bad that many passengers in his taxi cab were taking advantage of him ... like not paying for rides.

He loved his job, he really did, and he hated to give it up ...

But I can tell you until he became ill, he loved retirement after working for something like 70 years, since he worked at my father's butcher store as a pre-teen and teenager.

I don't look a gift horse in the mouth; thank God I have this little job that I have, as heaven knows what I would be doing now if I didn't have it.

But all I want to do is to retire, flat out retire, so I can choose my own destiny.

So again, when I read of an old pal who put in his time, is retiring for the second time, and looks to continue a career path not because he needs to but because he wants to, that is something that I really think is great.

But it makes me oh so envious -- or is it jealous--because I simply cannot do that.

Jealousy is a very, very bad trait to have, and being envious isn't any better, and I really wish I wasn't this way, but life has thrown me a lot of curves, and it appears that I am one of those guys who simply cannot hit a curve ball.

Strike one, strike two, strike three.

I'm out.

Rant #3,901: Shopping A-Z

As prices shoot up due to the war we are in in the Middle East, shopping has become a real pain in the butt.

For me, this is normally a happy time to do food shopping ...

Because the pre-Passover shopping period is upon us.

During Passover, observant Jews cannot eat regular bread, we have to eat matzoh, and we are prohibited from eating any products that are not Kosher for Passover.

No bacon, no pork, none of that stuff.

So right now, we are right in the middle of the Passover shopping period, leading up to the eight-day celebration that begins on, of all days ...

April 1, April Fools Day, at sunset.

The reason this year isn't as happy a shopping period as other years is because prices are sky high, and I mean, sky high for Passover products too.

Matzoh is ridiculous.

A box of matzoh, which used to cost about $3, is now $4, $5, $6 or even more--and that goes for the Kosher for Passover variations like egg matzoh, too.

All other products have gone sky high, too, so I am not finding it that much fun to do this shopping this year.

That does not mean that I won't keep Kosher for Passover.

In spite of the annual "Matzoh Stomach" malady--where eating matzoh makes you feel like you have a perpetual bowling ball in your stomach--I will eat matzoh like it is going out of style this holiday, as I always do.

Availability is another thing.

Gone are the days that you needed to go to one supermarket to get all of your Passover goods.

So far, I have had to go to two and three stores to find what I want--whether it be matzoh, UBet chocolate syrup or macaroons, and honestly, some stores have absolutely nothing--and I mean absolutely nothing--for Passover this year.

And some stores perpetually have nothing.

I went to one local store last year to look for gefilte fish.

I asked a worker in this particular store about it, and she replied, "What's gefilte fish?"

No, that store isn't on my Kosher for Passover list this year, although yes, I did go in there to see if things had changed.

Not a chance.

Also, I have found one, single, solitary store that has Passover Coca-Cola, the variety using real sugar and not corn syrup.

The price is about $1 more than the regular soda, so rather than buy two or three bottles like I normally do, I just settled for one bottle this time around.

I am not paying more than $10 for three bottles of soda, no matter how good it really is.

And then we have chocolate matzoh ...

My wife and I have been to a couple of stores looking for this delicacy, and we have yet to find a single box of this stuff, whether in dark chocolate or milk chocolate.

I love chocolate matzoh, even better than macaroons, which we found in great supply no matter where we shopped.

But chocolate matzoh ...

What's the deal with that?

I will still look around ...

It isn't Passover without chocolate matzoh sitting there waiting to meet up with your mouth and stomach.

I did see something new this year.

Not that I would buy it--I am happy with UBet chocolate syrup--but the classic Bosco brand now has a Kosher for Passover syrup--

But it is not chocolate, it is vanilla.

I had never seen this before this year, and while vanilla syrup isn't bad, it is not chocolate.

And while I am not a chocolate fiend, nothing goes better in milk than UBet ...

Of the chocolate variety.

I have not yet seen Kosher for Passover Temp-Tee cream cheese, so couple that with the absence of Kosher for Passover chocolate matzoh, and I am not a happy camper right now.

And let me add, for the first time that I can remember, the Kosher for Passover matzoh boxes have a different design, more snappy, more modern, and more to catch the eye of the younger folk who might be purchasing this stuff, maybe for the first time.

I saw this the other day, and I really had to do a double take, because the box design hasn't changed one iota for generations until I saw what I saw.

Potato chips are plentiful, and there are the usual candies and other snacks that go with the holiday.

But where is Kosher for Passover chocolate matzoh?

It can't be impacted by what is happening overseas ...

Or can it?

Rant #3,900: The Big Three-Nine-Zero-Zero

I don't know how we did it, but the Ranting and Raving Blog has reached another important milestone today--

Our 3,900th post.

It is probably a little more than that, because the numbering system somehow got a bit fouled up a few years back, and I also made some posts without numbers, but all in all, we have reached the big Three-Nine-Zero-Zero!

Amazing.

This Blog started out as simply a place where I could write whatever I wanted to write, talk about whatever I wanted to talk about, without any restrictions.

Work had restrictions on my writing, but here, I could do what I wanted to do.

What comes around goes around, and work still has its restrictions, but here, I can pretty much do what I want to do.

As a creative person, it is good to be given a direction, but sometimes, you just want to do your own thing, and that is what this blog has given me the ability to do.

It is a fun place, but I do take on serious subjects--like yesterday's Rant about the war we find ourselves in--but even when I talk about serious subjects, I try to keep it as light--and as readable--as I possibly can.

That is how I am, so if you want more serious and involved discussions, go read a dictionary or an encyclopedia (if you can still find either one).

Me, I like to take it easy on the verbiage.

Several other places I can't take it too easy on.

My health is one of those places.

After never having been sick a day in my life--or thereabouts--the past nearly three years have been awful, to say the least.

It seems that when one part of me gets better, another part fails me--

And I am at that stage right now.

I have to go to a couple of doctors next week, one being the dermatologist, and hopefully, nobody finds anything too out of whack.

But I know that if they do, I will be in that "one step forward, two steps back" thing that I have been on for a couple of years now.

I hate it, but you cannot play with your health.

But other than missing some days here and there, no matter what shape I am in, if I can get to a computer or my phone, I can post a new Rant each weekday.

I missed a day this week pretty much our of utter exhaustion from all the health stuff I have been through, but hopefully I can go on without too much interruption.

And as usual, I thank you, my readers, for keeping me going.

Yes, I know some of my recent Rants have been pretty lengthy, but I have had a lot to say in recent times, so it difficult to compact it into a nice tidy couple of paragraphs.

So stick with me, because that is how it is going to be for the foreseeable future.

There aren't going to be any word counts here.

I say what I want to say, and if it takes several paragraphs, so be it.

But again, I have a lot to say ...

And I like to write.

Funny, way back when, in P.S. 165 and then, at P.S. 30 and I.S. 72, I always kind of knew that this would be my life's work.

I thought about other things here and there, but English was always my best subject, so I knew that I would do something with the language--

I taught for a while, could never get out of the caste system of being a substitute teacher--the worst job in America--and somehow, I gravitated over the writing and editing, and all of these years later, that is what I have done for the better part of well more than 40 years.

I want to retire, but I know that at least for me, that ain't happening anytime soon, so I just have to plug away.

You guys generally don't see the writing/editing that puts food on my table, but it is quite different than what I do here.

In the past, I have written/edited as a professional writer/editor about real estate, security, show business and military resale among other things, but it wasn't even worth a hill of beans when I was looking for a job during the pandemic, probably the worst period to be looking for a job in the modern era.

But the Blog kept me going, even during the lowest of lows during that horrible period, and it keeps me going now.

We are now at Rant number 3,900, so we are on the precipice of reaching our 4,000th post, probably sometime in September of this year ...

That is, if I can keep my health going up to snuff.

So really, that is all I have to say right now.

I am being self-congratulatory here, for sure, but heck, why not?

You can't name too many blogs that have gone on for this many posts and this many years, can you?

This Blog celebrates its 17th anniversary on May 4, and I see no reason to stop it.

We get people from around the world reading it, so why stop now?

I don't make any money from it--it is monetized, but I haven't received a payment in something like 11 years--but that is not why I do this Blog.

I do it because I like to write, and I like to share my opinions and experiences with you.

So continue to visit, continue to read what I have to say, and question me when you don't agree with me or don't like what I have to say.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday--

And please stay healthy.

Rant #3,899: The Right Thing To Do

I understand why we are so heavily involved in the Middle East right at this moment.

It is a matter of national security, and, as usual, the right applauds our efforts, the left is disgusted at what is happening.

And then you have those imbeciles that will continue to blame Israel--and all Jews--for what is happening around the world, and not just in the Middle East, and this latest war has simply made their anti-Semitism even greater.

Don't blame the oppressors, blame those that are trying to make things right.

I never believed that one person, in particular, could make people so absolutely crazy, but President Trump is the guy.

We even have something called "Trump Derangement Syndrome," which is a non-medical term which has been conjured up to describe people who have their heads explode every time our president does something that gets their gander.

And with our entrance into the Middle East skirmish with Israel as its partner, I am really starting to believe that whatever our President does, even if it is the right thing to do, certain people will get nuts over it, won't give him any credit, disparage him at every turn, and make him into the devil.

No one wants war, but our actions in the Middle East are necessary to root out terrorism, and these actions should be applauded, and not disparaged--

But you know that even if Trump does something right--he doesn't always do the right thing--certain people will even side with the terrorists over him, and that is exactly what is happening in the Middle East right now.

You have many Democrats, many Hamas groupies, and many others, who are saying that this war is not needed, it is illegal, Congress was not alerted to his intentions, etc., etc., etc.

So would you rather have Middle East terrorists, and the terrorist state of Iran, continue to treat the world as its own bizarre playground, with millions of people tortured, oppressed, and losing their lives?

We should be rallying around our country's actions, even if we don't like our President, but again, if Trump does it, even if it is good, it is no good, because Trump did it.

This is absolutely crazy, but that is what Trump does to people, to those who hear the name "Trump," and they get absolutely crazy.

This is not the first war that an American President has not received Congress' OK to participate in, and it won't be the last.

Ideally, everyone should have been briefed and on board with this, but the action had to be taken now, not after the Senate and the House debated it for days or even weeks, giving the terrorists more time to prepare.

Sometimes you have to hit people when, perhaps, they least expect it, and that is what we, and Israel, did.

The President gave absolutely no impression that this was going to happen.

He went about his everyday business as usual, and while he might have hinted at something happening, no one--not the terrorists, either--thought it would happen this quickly.

But it did.

War brings casualties, and we--and Israel--have lost people early on in this battle.

That is the unfortunate thing about war--there are victors, but those that give their lives--and often their limbs and psyches--during these battles never win.

But wars must be fought when the situation begs for it, and the continual rise of countries like Iran into the nuclear firmament threatens our country and our way of life.

Now, if the U.S. can get some of the more moderate Middle Eastern countries on its side to fight terror--like Saudi Arabia--it will make it even a better situation for all, and certainly for the Iranian people, who deserve freedom after nearly a half century of oppression.

Look, I am not a Trump MAGA 100-percent devotee -- i don't like the fact that prices will rise as a result of this war, and gas rose 22 cents in my neck of the woods in just one day--but you don't have to be a full-throttle devotee to understand what is happening, and to back our President in what he is doing.

A recent poll by CBS News demonstrated that 76 percent if those polled support our current actions in the Middle East--

As long as it doesn't go beyond a couple of weeks.

We don't want another Afghanistan.

But if you suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome, everything related to the President is BAD, even if it is CORRECT.

I hope we can all get on the same page.

Hamas, Hezbollah and the other terrorist organizations are not to be defended, as they are the enemy.

President Trump and Israel are not the villains, as they are the heroes in all of this.

We need to get that through our thick skulls.

All of us.

Rant #3,898: Back Together Again

I am back!

I skipped Tuesday's Rant because to be honest with you, I was pooped.

My eyes had been dilated the day before from my retinologist visit, and I just wanted to take it easy--

And easy on the eyes.

What happened during the eye examination was that I was told what I already knew, and what I pretty much acknowledged--

I continue to have a partially detached retina in my right eye, and that isn't going away anytime soon.

I can see, I can read, I can drive, I can work ...

I have absolutely no pain in the eye.

The doctor said that since the eye hadn't gotten any worse, and since it wasn't greatly impacting me in its current state, that I didn't need to have the procedure done right away--

And to come back in two months.

If the eye gets any worse, I can go back to him sooner, but right now, the eye is holding steady in its slightly-off position, so I didn't need to have anything done with it ...

At least right now.

I realize that eventually, I am going to have to get something done, but not right now, with the doctor's diagnosis being to just watch the eye and see how it is progressing.

That is a doctor that I like; not jumping the gun on things when they don't need to be done so quickly, like some other doctors that I have--

Like my urologist, who I visited on Tuesday.

As you know, I have had some issues in that area of my body over the past couple of months, which was set into motion by the over-precaution of my prior urologist, who I allowed to do something that should not have been done at that moment.

That sent me into a spiral that a year and a half later, I am just coming out of.

If things need to be done immediately--like removing that cancerous growth on my scalp--then go ahead, do it, but I don't like doctors that look for things and do things that are not necessary at that precise moment.

My urologist found what he thinks is something this time around, and I am going to have to have yet another catscan to prove--or disprove--what he thinks I have.

It is something I have to get done.

Going back to my previous urologist, of course, a major portion of the fault is mine, because I allowed myself to go through this butchering, when all the tests I took before proved that it wasn't necessary.

But so be it.

You live and learn, even with doctors, who I have learned well into my life, are human beings, and they make mistakes.

My current general practitioner just made a big mistake with me, ordering the incorrect prescription for me, which was never processed by the pharmacy I use because it contradicted what I had been getting.

Nobody ever contacted me about the mistake, and I had to unravel it myself to discover what had happened.

Now that I figured out what happened, the pharmacy said they would process the proper prescription for me--

Only to send me a text just a few hours later stating that they were out of the pills and that they had to order it, and they would contact me when my order was ready.

And I am still waiting.

I really can't win here with doctors ...

You might remember that I was a patient of one doctor who committed suicide, another doctor who was caught red-handed selling prescription pills to high schoolers, and another whose partner fleeced him and the practice they shared, forcing a shutdown of the practice without any notice.

No, I really can't win with doctors, but these messes have forced me to be very proactive when it comes to my personal upkeep.

I do have other great doctors who are treating myself and my family, so they aren't all bad ...

But gone are the days that I put my health entirely in the hands of these doctors, and fully trust them on the level I trusted my parents to do the right thing for me.

Those days are gone, but I know from experience that there are really good doctors out there, some not so good, and others, well, they are dreadful.

My only advice to you is to keep on top of everything related to your personal upkeep, question things you don't understand, and find out if procedures are absolutely necessary before you submit to what are, on occasion, the whims of the doctor.

Over-precaution is good, but sometimes over-precaution rises to a ridiculous level, embroiling you in something that can take months to reverse.

Been there, done that, and I am not going there again if I can help it.