Remember the infamous burrito incident back in October? Well, maybe I'm naive or just dumb, but I've been going 'round and 'round with the hospital billing department. Now I thought I'd paid my bill and everything was just ducky... until I got another bill. Turns out that when you really, really need medical attention they charge you twice. Once for the doctor and once for their "facility charge." Now it begs the question which one can I complain about when I got to stand in reception for five minutes with my hand bleeding all over the damn place while the receptionist was very busy ignoring me so she could explain in-depth parking validation to some lady.

So the question is now, next time (should there be a next time) can I stand outside and have the doctor come out to stitch me up in the parking lot--after all I'd hate to utilize their oh-so-precious cot space. I didn't used to understand why people were always so gung-ho about suing hospitals thereby raising malpractice insurance and costs across the board, but I get it now--hospitals are jerks and, granted malpractice costs are stupid high, they earn their lawsuits by being assholes. Note to hospital folk: act like normal decent human beings--the rest of us a) don't get to charge for an hour when we do 10 minutes of work, b) get to collect our pay even if we don't take care of the problem c) get to charge multiple times for the exact same thing and d) get to utilize an extensive legal corps to enforce our backwards and greedy agenda.

In other news, the Birdhouse has gone through a major upgrade. I've got a new little piece on-line so check it out. It's looking good with all sorts of new features that make it worth the price of admission, IMO.

Anyway, here's a little bit of silly novelty for your consumption.

And check out All Things Right and Beautiful.

-Joe