"Self Control!"

Three basics of life: 1. You can't stop it from happening. 2. You can't do anything about it once it's happened. 3. You can't prevent it from happening again.

...11/9/02: 54 @7 AM, 80s' in the southern part of NM...PNM has been voted the best utilities company in the country for service & duration of down time...power was available to its customers 99.99% of the time in 2001...Brad made Beef Stroganof a la Brady (served with rice & salad), and peach pie...the Beltway Sniper actually killed his first victim on 9/5/02, in MD...while putting on ankle weights to exercise, found a hornet stuck to the Velcro; I killed it...last week held the bus so that Stan would not have to wait in the cold morning, for which he was thankful...there are a only few people I would do that for...money was raised in ABQ to give a sex offender a one-way ticket out of town!...the Dona Ana country had two horses that came down with the West Nile Virus; 1 was put to sleep; the other is on medicine and will recover...the Coors bus driver drove on Central until he reached downtown & realized he had made a mistake!...

...during the next week in NOV, there is a Tues. meeting re Coding audits, which was cancelled...Thurs., a speech by the Dean of Medicine, which nearly put Cassandra & I to sleep!...Friday we take Rosie to lunch; she will be in a new job as of 11/18/02, at 1650 UNIV...Coders are expected to enter audits for Hem/Onc & PEDS Clinics, get CHC billing sheets completed ASAP & work on dictation, plus the Rounds & INGENIX edits & questions...

...11/8/02: National Airlines closed due to 2 years of losses, and has filed bankruptcy...United Airlines will cut 1500 jobs in 2003 & decrease the number of flights...US 64 between Taos & Tres Piedres was closed late 11/8/02 when a plane struck a power line and crashed, killing the 2 people on board...the FDA has approved an HIV test which can produce results in 20 minutes...that same night Chama received 3 inches of snow...

...the two New Mexicans who came down with the Bubonic Plague are still hospitalized in NYC...the wife is in stable condition; the husband, critical...they caught the disease through fleas...

"('Listen' or 'Hey' or 'This is [so and so]'); Talk to me!"

...11/9/02: this is the day Farmington chose to set off its Fourth of July fireworks, since fires prevented the town from doing so in July...the weather was a mess, so they will be setting them off on Veterans Day, which is quite appropriate...

...there is no spare money at this time; there are only necessities, no luxuries...Brad does all the grocery shopping now...11/9/02: enjoyed breakfast at the Owl Cafe (that's how early we arrived there!)...waitress brought us the same meal, and we asked her about it; these meals were for the booth next to us...late 11/9/02: the weather turned nasty...there was heavy rain & winds, with gusts up to 51 MPH...snow fell in the higher elevations...minor power outages...over a third of an inch of rain fell in ABQ...and the roof leaked into the kitchen again, with a call to Nancy on 11/10/02...plenty of snow (from 1 to 3 feet!) in the mountains, but the roads were impossible to drive...this was very true on I-70 in CO, and I-80 in CA, near Lake Tahoe...11/10/02: 41 degrees at 7 AM...there was snow in the Sandias, and still quite windy (up to 30 mph gusts) during the day...Taos received 16 inches the past weekend; Angel Fire, 14 inches...both will open earlier than planned...

"2002, a year without memories"

...11/10/89: the breakthrough of the Berlin Wall...

...the fat lady has not sung yet for the New England Patriots, who are in second place as of 11/10/02...the second installment of the Harry Potter movies, Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets, opened on 11/15/02...deadly storms move across AL, OH & TN...11 states were hit with 70 tornadoes, one of the largest clusters in history...some of these storms had winds over 200 mp...it took until 11/17/02 for the system to finally leave the eastern seasbord...11/11/02: light snow & sleet in AM...we are grateful for the Food Bank at NMAS...a 4.2 quake shook Charleston, SC for 6-10 seconds...11/12/02: 34 degrees at 5 AM; 32 on 11/13/02...today Geri takes her first plane ride to Tucson, AZ...she was out 11/11-11/13/02...she loved it, and wants to fly again!...worse tornado recorded was in the 1920s'...it traveled on the ground for 3 hours, over 219 miles in three states (MO, IL & IN) and killed over 680 people!...

...11/11/02: Dr. Cordova asked us if we were still doing a 100% audit on Dr. Anderson; we were given the billing sheets (& charts) since last we received them (over 50!)...major problem: undercoding; minor problem: not checking a CPT code for EPSDT WCC visits...Doris was looking for 5 August charges; could not find them, so printed the dictation...this should be done before the time limit lapses...Sherry says the same for OCT expenses (?)...by the end of the day, Cassandra was tired...she also had an idea to call Sherry & Ted when billing sheets should be picked up by them...Brad's T-cell count went down, and his viral load went up...could be residual effects from BCBS and the day in court...11/11/02: gas had dropped to $1.39/gal...Dr. Wong explains an indirect I/P visit, known as conference care, and asks me to code it...he has faith in my judgement...suggested putting all doctor's names on the PEDS I/P sheets...as of now, putting two doctors (the current & future, which then becomes the current & previous)...saves time when the doctors change...a person died from a flesh eating bacteria...Strep A is found in the nose & throat, quite harmless except when absorbed into the skin...then it produces a toxin which results in the patient going into shock...death within days...2 days in this instance...Captain does not like generic tuna...is this foolish? there is a rule that if a basketball team does not have 15 members, they have to forfeit a game...this is supposed to encourage participation, but how?...who wants to join a team with only 11 or 12 members a team that has to lose because of the number of players it has (or hasn't!)?...

...medical students can no longer be scribes; now they must be with the patient at the request & under the direct supervision of the attending MD...billing forms brought to our area in error...no one knew who the person on the label...Cassandra called the woman, and the delivery person was given directions...Dr. Behnken still not on the doctor list in the audit & no access to that system for Cassandra yet...there is a problem reading the pink (bottom) copies of the APC forms...the PEDS Clinic numbers have also not been added...and doctors are still undercoding, and ignoring EPSDT...the dictation has been sorted by Clinic, and by month...coded August charges for Doris...request deep trays to hold the charges for each major clinic location...the name of the game is organization...but I think we should add an 8-ball to our office!...

...suddenly July, August & September charges were the majority of billing sheets in all incoming batches...Hem/Onc services appear in both Specialties & Hem/Onc categories...why?...Hope is the only Data Entry person in PEDS...the rest are leaving or have left...I wonder what could be done to persuade her to seek other challenges?...

...billing sheets...Hope returns them, but does not indicate what is incorrect...she would rather take the time to walk back & forth...it takes time to determine where the error is, and Hope has the answer!...she should not be delivering the sheets to us; they should be routed to the Clinic, who will then batch and deliver them to Cassandra & myself...she keeps sending back corrected billing sheets, because she doesn't know how to code, and she thinks she knows when we have not made the necessary corrections...what 20% of which number do the people in the Clinic use to determine how many billing sheets should be given to the Coders?...did I misplace or lose my bracelet?...nope, I left it at home; I almost did the same with my ID badge...I was not awake on 11/12/02...the prior weekend had 16 D/C & 10 admits...it was quiet & empty on the morning of 11/12/02...too quiet...the Spanish lady with the cat hobby paid $6.00 for a key lime pie, and hated it!...

"Panic in the Year 2002!"

...and panic it was as a problem was discovered in Bankruptcy Legal Land...it appears that Becky did not cross reference cards that had both our names...Brad met with Mr. Velarde on 11/12/02...he was told that the changes would cost $125 each...this was too much for us to pay, especially now...so through time & effort, Brad got the price down to $20 each...he also got a copy of Mike's paperwork, something that should have been given to Mike prior to his hearing, but was not...this shook up Brad to the point of crying...in the end, our lawyer got $40, and we had some peace of mind (more or less)...Mr. Velarde apologized for the inconvenience...the chance of any problems without this change was small (since we had been discahrged from our debts), but neither of us wanted to leave anything to chance...Brad now knows why I am a cynic!...Brad slept easier that evening...11/13/02: Brad received a $150 check from Blue Cross, for unused Annual Leave...11/11/02: Captain was sick, but heaved in one location in the middle of the rug...11/13/02: Captain's adrenalin kicked in, as he ran and clawed the plexiglass, and walked on the shelf in the stairway...too much coffee for him...

...most Iraqi citizens are under 25 years old, and are fans of American pop culture...the higher the moisture content in the air, the colder it feels outside!...$18 an hour is a lot of money to earn in this city &/or state...Mayor Chavez wants to cut more of the police budget!...going to bed earlier helps both of us...this year has had aquite an impact on the emotions & psyche...hotel room rates & items in stores seem very expensive, yet a few years ago we didn't think twice about buying or staying or eating anything or anywhere...my, how time has changed that tune &/or attitude!...11/14/02: Brad went for dental exam...one of the staff members was born the exact day (and year) as him...this area of the country also goes by the rules of the blame game...find a person to be the guilty party, and the problem is gone...Barbie (the doll) received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!...

"Is American ready for war with Iraq?"

...11/13/02: Dr. Lattimer on the Rounds (?), for two extra days...answer: Dr. Webster is ill...who will cover the rest of her schedule?...signs point to Dr. Handmaker, who will be returning on 11/20/02 for his own shift...the final answer: from 11/15-19/02, Dr. Anaya volunteered to take over...

...11/14/02: Brad found the expanded Lord of the Rings Deluxe Extended 4-disc DVD version for $30...in the box, he found a free movie ticket for the Two Towers...as of now, there will be no bus service on the Friday after Thanksgiving...that will not give merchants any holiday cheer!...11/14/02: this is hard to explain...I got to work, turned on my PC, sat down, and the world spun out of control...it felt that someone had given the chair and big spin, or that it had broken apart...I fell to the floor, hitting my head against the file cabinet, and my knee against the chair...I stood up, took some aspirin & Cyclobenzaprine, and the world stopped whirling in front of me...this episode was not repeated through the day, nor on Friday...but, I will cut down my Web PC time...the disco can remain under construction for a few more weeks (Lucifer's Lair)...I will look at my E-mail and the news...and hope this event does not repeat itself in the near or far future!...China Wok is still dull, bland & boring...Lam's is still very good, with spicy, spicy food...

...11/14/02: in selecting its next targets, sources suggest Al-Qa'ida may favor spectacular attacks that meet several criteria: high symbolic value, mass casualties, severe damage to the US economy & maximum psychological trauma...the highest priority targets remain within the aviation, petroleum & nuclear sectors as well as significant national landmarks...

...11/18/02: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second installment in the fantasy franchise based on J.K. Rowling's novels, took in $87.7 million, the third-best debut weekend ever, according to studio estimates...

...since Geri survived the flight to Tucson..her husband will get "snipped" of his manhood...from the PM of 11/15/02 to the PM of 11/17/02, I received 33 E-mails, all but 5 were deleted...we have been wearing coats in the house...11/17/02: used the heater on the second level in order that the ingredients for Brad's cooking would remain at the correct temperature...after 15 minutes, it became so warm that the heat was turned off, and the kitchen door was opened...most Europeans set their home temp to 55 degrees...