Dispatches from Planet Stupid

So, I called in a prescription on Friday, March 10th, at Noon.  Pharmacy tech was a competent person and said prescription would be ready by 6pm (on the 10th.) I told the PT that I knew the prescription would be very expensive and please fill it.

Wake up on March 11th (Saturday) and while walking Kegan the Wonderdog for his first constitutional of the day, called the Pharmacy, as neither Mrs. Andew nor I have received a text message stating that the prescription was ready (which, of course, should have come in on the 10th some time before 6pm.)  Got a different Pharmacy Tech and this one was a bumbling fool. Told her name of patient, DOB, her foot size (for you Monty Python fans) and the name of the prescription. 

She could not find any filled prescription for the drug in question, and spent a minute or so stammering something unintelligible.  I kind of figured out that something was wrong when she asked if Mrs. Andrew had insurance and if so, did it cover prescriptions?  

I asked PT-idiot if there was any insurance on file, and did it show coverage? PT-idiot mumbled something affirmative at which point I flatly stated that, yes, we know the medication is expensive, that we are either in the first stage of paying out the nose or in the donut-hole or something and that, yes, we want the prescription filled.  Please do so, yada yada, when will it be ready?

PT-idiot said it would be ready in an hour (time was 12:45pm.)  Yay, me.

Head out to the store at 3pm knowing what was going to happen, as, yes, we haven't received a text message saying the blood of the first born needed to be on our door for us to receive the precious med.  And stop off at the Pharmacy, some 2.25 hours after the very long phone call and 1.25 hours after the promised time of the med to be finished and ready.  Guess what?  They haven't filled it and asked if I wanted to come back tomorrow or Monday?  Since this is one of those 'restricted' meds and can't be had in large quantities, limited to 30 days supply only refillable after 28 days type of meds, no, I won't wait for yet another day (called on Friday, supposed to be ready on Friday, not ready on Friday, not ready on Saturday, promised Saturday, so BP is, eh, a little heightened by now.) "Can you come back in 20 minutes?"  My response was "20 minutes or sometime after an hour or so after you promised again?" At which time the pharmacy manager came over, apologized, and said, yes, the meds will be ready, so sorry..

Shop, check out, wander over, poof, meds are ready. Yay me.

Would be bad if this was a once-of experience.  It is not.  Almost every month.  ALMOST EVERY MONTH.  And this is at a good pharmacy with a much-better reputation than any other pharmacy within reasonable distance.

To make matters worse, the meds in question are very expensive.  Why?  Because they are a name-brand and not a generic.  Why?  Well, because Mrs. Andrew was on a less expensive, generic of a mildly addictive similar class drug that lasted 12 hours before bad things happened (withdrawal symptoms) and was prescribed 3 times daily as the effective lasting power was 8-10 hours. Because it was midly addictive the Insurance Company was worried about the addictive powers of it, so they replaced it with..  a new wunderdrug is 3-4 times more expensive, is very addictive, it lasts 9 hours max and severe withdrawal symptoms occur after 10 hours.  And is subject to periodic shortages, like none available.

Even worse, due to Fed Regs under the Affordable Care Act (why are leftist programs always named opposite of what they actually are?) electronic prescriptions for this type of drug are only allowed.  So the doc's office sends the EP to a single pharmacy.  SINGLE PHARMACY.  And cannot, CANNOT, be transferred to another pharmacy, even if in the same chain.  So if X pharmacy has the prescription is out of the drug that causes bad withdrawal symptoms if patient is out, they can't transfer the script to another pharmacy.  Nor can Pharmacy Y which has said drugs actually physically transfer drugs to Pharmacy X.  I'd use a common abbreviation for Copulate My Life, but that's crude, so I'll just say, Yay me.

Planet Stupid Indeed.

To top it off, as I was going into said building, there was a young couple with face masks and latex gloves coming in.  The male was one of those who wore a bushy beard under his mask. (Quick History Fact:  Beards went away for various reasons around WWI time.  The big one was that beards interfered wth getting a good gas seal using gas masks. Hmmm....) Wandering around the store shopping I came upon said couple again and again.  This couple was doing the 'lean away from the unclean' thingy and doing their very best to not breathe  or touch or be touched by the unclean.

By the time I wandered out of the store after dealing with the pharmacy, I saw said couple leaving.  At which point the male stopped by the water fountain, pulled his mask down, and then proceeded to slobber a bunch of water up and around his furry face. 

So scared to breathe other people's air, to touch other people, but will drink from a public fountain?  Heck, I'm one of those 'pure bloods' (the very unvaxxed by Covidiocracy) and I don't drink from a public fountain.  

Planet STUPID.

To top it off, I make pizza for Mrs. Andrew every Saturday.  Gluten-free thick crust pizza, comes out soft and chewy and wonderful.  Every Saturday for over 4 years.  Perfect every time. (insert foreboding music...)

So today, make the dough, bake the plain dough for 14 minutes (gluten-free dough is weird.)  Comes out slightly brown, looks good.  Put the toppings on, sauce, cheese, pepperoni and pineapple (she likes it, so because Mrs. Andrew, it's okay for me.)  Cover with foil (because gluten-free dough is weird) and bake for 30 more minutes.

Pull it out, cut it, serve it, Mrs. Andrew says something's weird.  Instead of the cheese being almost a single molten blob, the cheese is still mostly unmelted. Pizza is edible, but not perfect.

So I check the settings on the oven (I just turned off the oven, I did not turn the temp down.)  Temp is set at 400, check.  Doorseal is good, check. Test run the oven by turning it on and checking in 10 minutes, oven internal is at or around 400, check.  What went wrong?  Dunno, but Planet Stupid, right?  Yay me.

It's been that type of day.

The refrigerator works fine, though.

Yay me.

Some days...

So some music.  Group is Estampe, a European music group that does real medieval music, or at least as close to real as possible because musical scoring as we know it wasn't really formalized until around the time of Bach, JS Bach.

Stuff like this is what I listen to to calm me down on days when nothing else, ELO, Bach organ music, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, won't.  So here it is...

Palastinalied - Estampe

Album - Crusaders In Nomini Domini

Gee, it's about going down to the Holy Lands

Duh.

The translation of said German grumbling is:

Now my life has gained its meaning

since these sinful eyes behold

the sacred land with meadows greening

whose renown is often told.

This was granted me from God:

to see the land, the holy sod,

which in human form He trod.

 

Splendid lands of wealth and power,

I’ve seen many, far and near,

yet of all are you the flower.

What a wonder happened here!

That a maid a child should bear,

Lord of all the angels fair,

was not this a wonder rare?

 

Here was He baptized, the Holy,

that all people might be pure.

Here He died, betrayed and lowly,

that our bonds should not endure.

Else our fate had been severe.

Hail, O cross, thorns and spear!

Heathens, woe! Your rage is clear.

 

Out of pity for us,

He suffered here the cruel parting.

Out of pity for us

He, the Almighty, allowed cursing.

For us to escape misery,

it is an immeasurable prodigy,

more than any other prodigy.

 

Then to hell the Son descended

from the grave in which He lay,

by the Father still attended,

and the Spirit whom none may give a name:

in one are three,

an arrowshaft in unity.

This did Abraham once see.

 

When He there defeated Satan,

ne’ er has kaiser battled so,

He returned, our ways to straighten.

Then the Jews had fear and woe:

watch and stone were both in vain,

He appeared in life again,

whom their hands had struck and slain.

 

Thereafter he walked this land,

for forty days: then He ascended,

from whence His Father had him on errand.

His Spirit, may He protect us from the wicked,

He at once sent back down.

Holy is this very town,

its name, is by God known.

 

To this land, so He has spoken,

shall a fearful judgment come.

Widows’ bonds shall then be broken

and the orphans’ foe be dumb,

and the poor no longer cower

under sad misuse of power.

Woe to sinners in that hour!

 

All the judgement of an earthly court,

will give no man respite from accusation,

for He will want at once to sort,

for the Last Day annunciation:

whoever leaves a single sin,

unatoned here, how bereft he will stand facing Him,

where he has neither surety nor kin.

 

Christians, heathen, Jews, contending,

claim it as a legacy.

May God judge with grace unending

through his blessed Trinity.

Strife is heard on every hand:

ours the only just demand,

He will have us rule the land.

 

Now do not ignore,

what I have recited.

My wish was to briefly explore,

the discourse and to you I have presented,

all the wonder that God has unfurled,

upon man in this world,

they began and ended here in this emerald.