Summer Summaries, Part 2: Summer Reading

Originally, I planned to write this entry about the library's Summer Reading Program. For those of you not in the know, that is a thing where children keep track of their reading in exchange for prizes. In the past, I have worked at libraries where the whole staff was expected to lose all sense of sanity and dignity in an effort to promote summer reading. At my current library, summer reading is still a Big Deal, but I am the only one planning and implementing it. While I've been insanely busy at times, I haven't been able to force anyone to dress up in silly costumes or engage the children in elaborate games of chance. So, my sanity and everyone's dignity are intact, which is cool, but yet again my awesome job has denied me a good story. (Good stories are one of the very few perks of soul-killingly bad work environments.) Instead, I'm going to tell you about my own personal summer reading. Is that a good story? Maybe not, but it's potentially more interesting than "...and then I made a Reading Log with some really neat clip art!"

It all started when, at some point in the past year, I seem to have decided that I wasn't quite nerdy enough. I don't know exactly how or why this happened. It wasn't a conscious decision. Clearly, being a former academic decathlete who completes logic puzzles for fun and is a librarian is more than enough nerdiness for most people, but I am not most people. I needed a project. A nerdtastic project.

So at the end of last year, the husband and I decided to read biographies of all the presidents. Which is a super way to increase one's nerd quotient, really, except that I accidentally upped it exponentially by getting excited about reading about some of the other people of the era as well. As it turns out, I read a George Washington bio and a Benjamin Franklin bio. Then while I was reading a summary of the events of 1776, I pulled out a replica of a map drawn by General Howe, and my nerd meter exploded. It was too much for me, and while I haven't given up on the concept, neither have I quite committed to taking home a book about president #2.

Then I figured out the problem. Yes, reading presidential biographies is nerdy, but it's not English major nerdy. I was too far out of my comfort zone. And that is why I started a quest to read all of the National Book Award winners. I started with The Man with the Golden Arm, which was the first winner in 1950. (I am a little bit ashamed to admit that I genuinely thought that book was about baseball. For the record, it is so not about baseball.) Then, in an act of craziness that I am still not entirely okay with, I skipped to the 2006 winner, The Echo Maker. I had been planning to read it before I started the project, and the Husband convinced me it would be dumb to wait the two years it will take me to get to this decade. But I have Book Chronology OCD from way back; believe me when I say that I did not discover The Truth About Stacey before learning about Kristy's Great Idea.

This project isn't a super-strict thing. I'm reading other things along the way. Already, though, I can feel my Nerd Power growing. Don't feel too threatened though; 1951's winner is The Complete Short Stories of William Faulkner. It's over 900 pages. Given that it's Faulkner, those 900 pages may contain 20 sentences total.

I may be writing about a new nerd project soon.

Summer Summaries, Part 1: In which I am insured

This summer has been an extended effort to fight off inertia and general blahs. There has been a steady stream of things that have made me go, "I should blog about that... but then I'd have to get off the couch. Maybe tomorrow." In an effort to make up for my laziness and mild depression, I am introducing a new Misplaced Hoosier Special Feature: Summer Summaries. Join me as I recount the victories and defeats of a summer in CollegeTown. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll long for the days when I fought the urge to blog by taking another nap!

Today's installment: insurance. When last I shared about the Great Insurance Battle of '09, I had been rejected by Insurance Company #2, based on incorrect information. This is going to blow your mind, people, but the insurance company was reluctant to admit that they made a mistake. My doctor's office was extraordinarily helpful, sending off all of my test results and notes and not charging me a dime for all the faxes and phone calls. The exchanges would basically go like this:
Insurance Company: We'll insure her once she gets that follow-up test you recommended.
Doctor's Office: But she got all the tests we recommended.
IC: Okay, but once she's finished with the follow-up, then we'll reconsider.
DO: But there is no follow-up!
IC: Oh wow, that's great! So just call up when the tests are done.

I kept re-submitting appeals, though, and after many tears, several phone calls filled with barely controlled rage, and a few very strongly worded letters, I was finally accepted, with an exclusionary rider on my fibroadenomas. This is ridiculous and kind of scary, actually, but at least now I can get my annual exam.

You want to know the worst part? After they accepted my appeal (read: 3 1/2 months after I first applied), they basically re-submitted my application, which meant that my monthly premium had went up (inflation, dontcha know). It also meant that I had been uninsured for over 60 days. They kept telling me it would have no effect on any preexisting conditions since they'd go with the date that I actually applied, but there is nothing in our shared history to make me think they're honest. And given that I had to call three times before someone figured out that the reason my application wouldn't go through was that I also needed to re-submit my payment info, I have no evidence to believe they're competent. I suppose it doesn't really matter, since my only real preexisting condition isn't covered anyway.

Of course, that's not the actual worst part. The actual worst part is that rather than working to fix the problem and reform the system, Congress is sitting around with their thumbs up their asses while making out with lobbyists from Big Pharma. Meanwhile, most Americans are one major accident or disease away from bankruptcy.

Oy vey. Now do you see why I haven't been blogging? Don't worry; things will get better in the next installment of Summer Summaries: Summer Reading!