redbird | Recent Entries

Hi. This is an online substitute for a paper journal, as well as a place to talk to people, so a lot of what's here is quotidian stuff about my life and place. ~~These days, that's more exploring the Seattle area than what's in bloom right now in my corner of the world.~~ As of March 2016, "place" is the Boston area: we moved to Arlington, Mass., in March 2016, then Somerville a year and a half later. I'm now living in Boston with @cattitude and @adrian_turtle, still figuring out my way around Brighton and other parts of Boston, and how long it actually takes to get to my various medical and other appointments on the other side of the Charles. Some of the basics about me are in my userinfo; the userpic with this sticky post is a photo of me, taken in 2007, in case you're wondering whether I'm the redbird you know from elsewhere.

Long ago when the net was flat, I spent a bunch of time on Usenet, mostly rassef and alt.polyamory; I did some of my growing up in science fiction fandom, which in my case meant writing in/for a lot of apas. If you don't know why I subscribed to your journal, we probably have friends in common, and either one of them said "this person is cool" or you posted interesting comments, and I looked at your journal and found it interesting.

Anyone is welcome to read and comment on my journal (though I screen comments on some posts). I do post some things locked and/or filtered. I am more likely to give access to people I know, either previously (online or off) or from interactions here. If we know each other but I might not recognize your username, please leave a note here so I can make the connection.

If we don't already know each other, welcome, and please introduce yourself. I'm screening all comments to this post, so you can tell me "Hi, it's $old_friend" without other people seeing the connection between your username here and other names or handles you use. Or comment on other posts, and I'll get some feeling for what you're like.

There are a half-dozen access-locked posts in here, none recent, with nude photos of me (all tagged "nudes"). I grant access to most people who ask (and many who don't), and those aren't the posts I consider private.

I generally use a cut tag for details of exercise or (rarer) body size/shape posts, and I tend to avoid other people's discussion of weight and dieting. By request, I'll be cut-tagging discussions of covid masks. If there are other things you would like similar warnings about, let me know. (I am assuming the current level of cut-tagging on exercise is okay for everyone reading this journal; if not, let me know and I'll see what I can do to address that.) I also use cut tags for things that even I don't find very interesting, but may need to look up later: Dreamwidth as external memory.

I'm (still) posting about politics. I'm not cut-tagging those posts, but I am going to try to label the entries that are entirely or mostly about politics, rather than drop a paragraph about calling my senators in between discussions of out-of-town visitors and cucumbers, in case your self-care means you need to rake a break from reading about politics.

I'm also still posting about the coronavirus pandemic, how I'm dealing with the situation, etc. Most of those posts are tagged with "COVID-19," "life during covid-19," or "the new normal" (or "the new normal?") and some are also tagged "coronavirus"

[last updated July 17, 2024]

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While I was dealing with trying to figure out whether I could see my psychiatrist, and what it would cost if so, I got an email from medicare.gov about the Medicare Advantage "open enrollment" period: anyone who enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (part C) plan at the end of the previous year can change to a different Medicare Advantage plan between January 1 and March 31st. I decided that it would be worth it to get into a PPO instead of the HMO I had somehow signed up for, even though it means I'll be starting over on the annual out-of-pocket maximums for prescription drugs and for medical care generally. I put the application in this afternoon, and was told the process might take 10 days, but I also think it's supposed to be effective the first day of the month after I requested the change. My confirmation email from Medicare says the plan will notify me after they verify my information and confirm my enrollment, so I will wait and see.

Fortunately, I can afford to do this, rather than having to find new specialists who are in that stupid HMO's network, or spend large amounts to see my current doctors. (Switching now is expensive because I take one very expensive drug, the Kesimpta.)

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Wikipedia has blacklisted the site archive.today a.k.a. archive.is, .li, .ph, .fo, .md, and .vn), because Wikipedia editors discovered that the pseudonymous owners of the site were altering some archived pages. The alterations inserted the name of a blogger that the pseudonymous person who runs archive.today has a grudge against, because the blogger speculated about their identity.

Wikipedia editors were already debating whether to blacklist the site, after discovering it was being used in a distributed denial-of-service attack against that same blogger. The argument for blacklisting the site was straightforward: archive.today captchas were running malicious code on people's computers. The argument against was that it would be difficult to replace hundreds of thousands of links, an argument that made sense only as long as the saved websites were considered trustworthy.

My decidedly non-expert hunch is that using the site to look at static content behind a paywall is probably safe unless the site asks you to complete a captcha.

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meta

I realized over the weekend that I hadn't checked on those insurance/medical specialist referrals, and when I did check, they were all sitting in MyChart, but hadn't been sent to the insurance company. The insurance chat agent was able to tell me that yes, they need to be in their system, and gave me a fax number to give my GP's office. So I called this morning (yesterday having been a holiday) and asked my doctor's office to do that, urgently, because I'm seeing Dr. Awad tomorrow.

When nothing had happened by midday, Adrian suggested I call the insurance company and ask whether it would be OK if they received the referral after the appointment, on the theory that this probably happens a lot. So I called, and they said yes it would, so I'm going to cross my fingers, and didn't call to reschedule that appointment.

I also finally managed to talk to my Fidelity advisor, and set up a three-way call with him and BNY (where the inherited IRA is). That involved a lot of waiting on hold, and the agent saying he needed to check one more thing.... He then told me that it would take more time for them to figure out where that unexpected balance came from, and they had to figure that out before they could transfer the money. No, I don't know why: the balance information is from their system. So someone is supposed to call me back, hopefully soon, and then I hope they will either transfer the money to Fidelity, or be willing to send me a check for the balance and close the account.

It took me a little while to figure out why I was feeling worn out, but at least part of it is that I made multiple phone calls, and everything is still in process, if not in limbo. A bowl of Lizzy's "chocolate orgy" ice cream helped some.

On top of everything else, my gum is bothering me again ("again" because it's a problem for a day or two, then it's fine for a while, and then recurs).

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January was rereading, and not much of that: Paladin of Souls, by Lois McMaster Bujold, and Sorcery and Cecilia by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer: the latter was a read-aloud, with Cattitude and Adrian switching off depending on which character the letter was from.

I also bounced off a couple of rereads, and read news and other articles online.

Just finished:

Grown Wise, by Celia Lake: another of her Albion historical romances, set in a fantasy Britain with a middle-sized community of people who use or are aware of magic. This one is set a couple of years after World War II, and people are dealing with both individual loss and trauma, and the war's effects on the land. I enjoyed this, but I don't know whether it would be confusing as a starting point. (It's the first in a new series of these books, which might help.)

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A few days ago, I ordered a pair of snow sneakers that I thought would probably be too big, because the places I looked online were sold out of everything in my size.

They arrived today, I tried them on after dinner, and they seem to fit. Adrian helped me adjust the fastening so the left shoe isn't too tight around my calf. They fasten with velcro rather than shoelaces, which may be an advantage: the laces on my shoes tend to loosen as I walk, so I have to stop and retie them moderately often. (Flat laces are a bit better than round ones, double-knotting makes no difference, and please don't try trouble-shooting this in comments.)

Apparently I take a men's size 8 extra-wide in LLBean boots, which may be useful: more shoes come in a men's size 8 than size 7, and the selection of wide shoes is larger in men's sizes/styles than in women's.

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shoes

After a lot of time on chats and multiple phone calls, the last person I spoke to said that Dr. Awad is in-network, so I don't need the insurer's "continuity of care" paperwork.

This started with me being told that she was out of network, and that I would need a "continuity of care" form to keep seeing her. The first person I talked to, in chat, said I needed that form, and offered me one to download. When I looked at it, the form he'd sent me said it was for four specific states, not including Massachusetts, and that mental health required a different form anyway. He also told me that I need a referral for psychiatry, and don't need a referral for behavioral health, and didn't understand why I was confused.

I tried again, and got someone who agreed that I needed a special form, and gave me a phone number. I stopped there, showered and dressed, and went out to pick up prescriptions and buy ice cream. That at least worked smoothly.

I came home and called the behavioral health team, which asked a few questions, and told me to call a different number. The person I spoke to this time said that she would need a bunch of information, and I should have the provider call them. I then asked if the doctor's NPI number would help. Yes, it would: according to that, she's in-network for me, because she takes Medicare. I hope that's true, but am not confident of that, or anything related to this.

Separately from that, I have asked Dr. Bershel's office for referrals, including to Dr. Awad, which is why I'd already looked up her NPI number.

Current Mood: tired and frustrated

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The Scintillation Discord does an annual Groundhog Day gift exchange, a somewhat arbitrary date that has nothing to do with either weather/climate predictions or time loops (xkcd: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/groundhog_day_meaning_2x.png). I received two small books, a blank notebook, and some dark chocolate stars, along with a note explaining that the giver wasn't sure what to get me.

The bag of chocolate says "contains: milk, soy" with no further information, so I sent the shop an email asking for more information, and explaining why. The store is in Minneapolis, so I added that I hope they aren't doing too badly under ICE occupation. I have already heard back, with a note saying that the items are made for them, so he can't be sure how much milk or soy they contain, and that they are doing OK during these very troubling times.

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We got a lot of snow in the Boston area, but people seem to be coping fairly well. The building management company have sent people over here to shovel the walks, several times, so I was able to take out the trash and recycling. The forecast for the next several days is for cold, very cold once you count the wind chill. It turns out that I can wear Adrian's old snow pants, which will do a lot to protect my legs from cold and wind. The remaining problem is boots: even with the 3/4 insoles Adrian lent me, they're too loose, including at the front, so I may try putting in a pair of full-length insoles and see if that helps. The other possibility is to go out looking for a pair of snow sneakers, or at least waterproof hiking shoes/boots (though the forecast is for the kind of weather where waiting for two trolleys, and walking from home to trolley to store, is daunting.

I've been looking at Bluesky again, in large part for news and commentary about what ICE is doing in Minnesota and elsewhere. When I've had enough for a while, I click on the "astronomy" feed I subscribed to months ago, so the first things I see are an astronomical pictures.

I did a lot of PT yesterday, and a few exercises today. It feels like I haven't gotten a lot done today, which I think is because I'd been hoping to make some phone calls (not all of them political), and assumed I wouldn't be able to take the trash out today. (The alternative to that walk along the side of the building is a spiral staircase, indoors, but spiral staircases aren't good for me, and this one is tight enough that my joints really don't like it. Cattitude can deal with it when necessary, but he's already going up and down that stair regularly to do the laundry.)

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The world is on fire, but after ICE murdered someone else in Minneapolis this morning, I called both my senators and also Chuck Schumer--I called him a coward and said we needed him to do better, giving my old Manhattan zip code. Apparently enough people made enough calls, and Schumer said an hour ago that Senate Democrats won't provide the votes for a funding bill that includes the Department of Homeland Security.

It seems likely that Alex Pritti's murder mattered to people who were prepared to overlook their murder of Renee Good, because it shows that while ICE is profoundly racist, a white man with a gun permit isn't safe either.

I can't do much for my friends in Minneapolis, but if there's something that would be useful, please ask.

ETA: After posting that, I realized I could afford to donate some money. So, I followed the links on Naomi Kritzer's recent post, donated $50 to Minnesota Rapid Response, and bought a bunch of dental floss to a group that was asking for that.

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There's more evidence that the shingles vaccine reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease: two more natural experiments (in which people were offered the vaccine based on date of birth or where they lived). One of them comparED the older Zostavax vaccine with the newer Shingrix: https://erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-on-the-shingles-vaccineagain

As the blogger, Eric Topol says, "If this vaccine was a drug and reduced Alzheimer’s by 20%, it would be considered a major breakthrough for helping to prevent the disease! But as a vaccine, it hasn't reached any sense of being a blockbuster"

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In no particular order:

*Last night, I talked with cattitude and adrian_turtle about possible text for my mother's gravestone. I emailed this to my brother today, with a note that these were what I was thinking of.

*I went to TJ Maxx to look for slippers. Disappointingly, there were none that came close to fitting: the ones that might have been in my size were all significantly too tight across the top of my foot. I was wearing thin socks (specifically, lightweight compression socks). It continues to be annoying that not buying slippers (for example) is as tiring as buying some.

*Also, my hips started hurting while I was in the store, so I decided not to look for other things, but headed home with only a quick stop at CVS, and not a grocery store.

*Today was definitely a good day to be outside; yesterday wasn't particularly, and tomorrow is likely to be a lot colder than today (with an afternoon high a little below freezing, so not horrible for January in Boston).

*I got email today from state senator Pat Jehlen, about a bill to ban the use of masks by law enforcement. This is noteworthy because I haven't lived in her district since 2019, and didn't think I was still on her mailing list.

*The skin on my fingertips, and on the rest of my hands, is doing a lot better. I will need to remember to keep applying the serious lotion, so it doesn't start splitting again. However, my shoulder is bothering me, which may be from doing a lot of mousing when I was avoiding using the keyboard.

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As is sometimes the case, I only heard about Christie and his part in the anti-apartheid fight after he died.

Renfrew Christie was a white South African scientist and member of the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress. He went to Oxford University and studied South Africa's history of electrification "so I could get into the electricity supply commission’s library and archives, and work out how much electricity they were using to enrich uranium," he told the BBC. That in turn let them figure out how much enriched uranium South Africa had, and many bombs it could build.

When he returned to South Africa, he was arrested and, after 48 hours of torture, wrote a forced confession, which he told the BBC was the best thing he ever wrote

noting that he had made sure the confession included “all my recommendations to the African National Congress” about the best way to sabotage Koeberg and other facilities.

“And, gloriously, the judge read it out in court,” Dr. Christie added. “So my recommendations went from the judge’s mouth” straight to the A.N.C.

Christie died of pneumonia last month, at the age of 76.

I'm linking to

siderea's post, which includes the text of the (paywalled) NY Times obituary.

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I thought that all the money had been transferred from my mother's IRA account at BNY to my account at Fidelity at the end of December.

Last week, I got a message from Fidelity saying that a transfer couldn't be completed, and BNY needed to talk to me. That message was _exactly_ the same as the one I got in November, so I wasn't even sure this was a real thing rather than a glitch.

After several days of wrestling with phone trees and leaving messages with my advisor at Fidelity, I tried BNY again this afternoon. That wound up being a long phone call, including a long time on hold while the person I was talking to looked things up.

What he was able to tell me is that there is some amount of money greater than zero still in my mother's name at BNY, possibly capital gains on the money they had already transferred. The person I was talking to said he couldn't tell me how much, but that based on this call, I could have Fidelity call BNY and tell them to transfer this money.

But that would be too simple: Fidelity said they would need a current statement on the account. So, back to BNY, whose system is set up to provide information to people with accounts they can log into. The available workaround is for them to send me a request form, and for me to attach a copy of my mother's death certificate, and my driver's license, and then I should have it in 1-5 business days.

In the meantime, I have emailed my brother, who told me that any amount of money still in Mom's name in 2026 would complicate things for him as executor. (I was pleased to be able to email him on December 30 and tell him that the transfer had finally been completed.)

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inheritance

I have just been pleasantly surprised by a health insurance company: they aren't requiring "prior authorization" for my Kesimpta prescription. The person I spoke to this afternoon checked whether I had any of the drug left (no), and whether I'd missed a dose, before arranging delivery for Thursday morning. This is the drug whose copay will meet the 2026 out-of-pocket maximum. Yes, I selected a plan in large part based on the prescription drug coverage.

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We went to the Boston anti-ICE demonstration today, one of many throughout the United States. Cattitude and I got there slightly after the nominal starting time, and managed about an hour before the cold got to me. Yes, it was above freezing and not windy, but standing still on a large open plaza is chillier than moving around. Adrian came to the demo with some of her comrades from Havurat Shalom, and arrived before we did. The crowd was large enough that we didn't try to find her until we were all preparing to leave.

It was a good-sized crowd, but the acoustics and sound system were abysmal; I could only make out a few scraps of what the speakers were saying.

I wore a winter coat, wool socks, and light-weight long underwear, which was too warm while we were on the trolley.

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The new insurance requires me to use a different specialty pharmacy for the Kesimpta. I asked for a new prescription last night via MyChart, and just had a productive conversation with the pharmacy (Optum):

they asked whether I'd been off Kesimpta, because what they can see is that they were sending it to me in 2024, and not last year, so I explained that
we went over my list of medications, which was missing at least one thing, and had one I'm no longer taking
the doctor wrote the prescription for a 90-day supply, and the insurance will only cover a month of this at a time
the doctor sent them a prescription for the initial 'loading" dose, and they need to go back to the neurologist and clarify that

However, so far this has been remarkably efficient: less than 24 hours from me messaging the doctor, to me talking to the pharmacy. Whether the insurance company will cause delays by demanding "prior authorization," I don't know.

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We just went to a small, and surprising brief, vigil on the Common in memory of Renee Good 'and other victims of ICE," organized by MIRA, a local immigrants rights and support group. I'm glad I went, and some good things were said. There will I believe be a larger event tomorrow, but when I can show up for short-notice things on weekday afternoons, sometimes that feels like my job.

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I gave Capsule my new insurance information, and then had them deliver a prescription.

I will need/use the inhaler, but this is also confirmation that yes, I (still) have prescription drug coverage.

Other than that, not a great day. Fingertips are improving, but I had a sudden nosebleed while sitting quietly on the couch an hour ago. *sigh*

The skin on the tips of my fingers has been splitting again (as it does in winter even if I try to use enough lotion) and I discovered yesterday evening that my left middle finger and thumb both hurt to touch right now, which makes lifting even light-weight things painful or difficult. Fortunately I don't live alone, and Adrian ct up my salmon for me.

Today has been if anything worse. Mousing Ok, a few tasks are OK, I managed several PT exercises but it has been a hard day. Typing, including comments, is particularly bad.

Current Mood: crappy

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state of the world

Steven Spotswood, _Dead in the Frame_ -- the latest Parker and Pentecost mystery, in which the narrator and her boss solve the mystery her boss was being framed for, and another murder that the cops had been ignoring, which turns out to be related. The solution is not at all what I was expecting, on a couple of levels. The book is also about the narrator's friendship with her boss, and the romantic relationship with another woman, which has her navigating various levels of homophobia. (Late 1940s, New York City.)

Malka Older, _The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses_ -- the third of the investigations of Mossa and Pleiti, this one set largely at a university, with academic rivalries and an invention that could threaten various profitable businesses. Still on the implausible, hopefully temporary colony in the atmosphere of Jupiter.

These fit together, which I didn't realize until I sat down to post this.

That makes 39 books for the year, plus short fiction, blog posts, and a few things abandoned partway through.

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Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

Don't mourn, organize

Sticky: Welcome

Medicare advantage, again

PSA: archive.today not trustworthy

unsatisfying phone calls (and web chats)

Wednesday reading

snow sneakers

insurance company annoyance

Groundhog Day gift exchange

meanwhile...

(no subject)

good news: health

six things make a post

In memoriam: Renfrew Christie, who sabotaged South Africa's nuclear weapons program

inherited IRA, part too many

Kesimpta prescription

anti-ICE demonstration this afternoon

kesimpta

a small vigil

new year, new insurance

(no subject)

Wednesday reading: two mystery novels to round out the year

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