toddcarruth.com

Hey, I made it back from Mexico.  To be more specific, I was just south of Cancun along the Riveria Maya at one of those all-inclusive resorts.   This one was called Moon Palace. And it was niiiiiiice.  If you’ve never been to an all inclusive place, what happens is,  you get a bracelet that you keep on the entire time which entitles you to eat and drink as much as you want for one flat fee.  Including the drinks in your room. You know that little bar in your room that you have always wanted to just ransack but didn’t want to pay $30 for a pint of rum? Well, you can go for it now, baby cause it’s all included in the price.
Why did a I go to Mexico? Why not! Actually, it was for my mom’s 70th birthday. Unfortunately for her, we had a little drama just minutes before we got to the airport.

All the family was packed and in two cars. (sister, niece and husband, nephew, my kids, mom, brother-in law) and we are just about to pull away when we notice that the front door to my mom’s house is open. Nanny (my grandma) is inside waiting for my uncle to come over.  My mom hops out to close the door and when she comes back to the car, she slips and falls and hits her lower back on the curb.  I was driving and I can see it in slow motion as she reaches for the door and just falls flat on her back.  I notice she’s not getting up and I just throw open my door and rush around to see if she’s okay.  Well, my mom is pretty tough and there’s no way she’s going to miss this trip and so she picks herself up and gets in the car and tells me to drive.  The next day, her lower back was bothering so we had the hotel doctor check her out and give her a couple of shots of tequilla (kidding), it was anti-inflammatory medication, and then rented a wheelchair for her so she didn’t have to do much walking.  I don’t have pictures but I do have video which I will edit and share later this week.

Oh and I did get a little crisp on my front side. You would think all that hair on my chest would offer some protection.  Just hug me gently when you see me.

So, remember when I saw the Stones, err, had those kidney stones and the pain was so bad that I went to the emergency room at 4 in the morning even though I didn’t officially have any health insurance?

Yeah, um, I got the bill.

Anybody want to guess? You, in the corner with your hand up. What say you? $500? Ah, if only….

Try $4227.85.

Now, to their credit, the hospital did discount the bill by 30% on account if me not having any insurance and so that drops it down to a still eye opening $2959.50.  Whew. A hair under $3000! That was close. Ooops, wait a second. I just got a second bill from the Consultants in Radiology charging me $356.  I guess we are going over the big 3k after all.

I have already ordered an itemized bill but for now, let’s delve a little bit closer and see how the basic charges break down.

• $118 for the pharmacy.  - I gots no argument with that one. That drug they injected me with was glorious.  In fact, I would have paid double for a take home needle.
• $79 for the lab/urology.  - again, no big deal. It’s lab work. I can respect that. I hated my lab work in college. That’s why I got a C in geology.
• $3090 for the CT Scan. - Ding ding ding. There’s the culprit. I called the hospital billing department and when the lady answered, I said, “Hi, I apparently bought a CT Scanner and so I was wondering when I could come by and pick it up.”   Silence.   Maybe she had heard that joke before?  What justifies a charge of over $3000 for a scan! That doesn’t even include the “consultant” fee.  Are they still paying it off? Is my payment going to allow them to finally repaint it an eggshell white?
• $922 for the emergency room. - Wow, another one that is way too high. They didn’t even have cable in the room. Or a TV.  And I was only in there for less than 2 hours.
• $17.75 for drug/detail code. - I am guessing this is the charge to match up the right drug with the right code? What’s the code for awesome drug that made my pain go away so fast. You know what? I won’t quibble over this one either because I want those codes to match.

So there you go. I will be performing the best traffic reports of 2007 on the corner of  Stemmons and Inwood for the next 3 weekends and passing the hat afterwards to help pay for my delightful 2 hour stay at HEB’s priciest hotel with benefits.

DISCLAIMER: I actually have no complaints about the CARE and TREATMENT that I received. I found everyone very professional and my nurse was understanding and helpful.  I am just a little shell shocked by the bill. Fortunately, I am in a position to be able to file for COBRA benefits, unlike many Americans who don’t have that luxury.   If you have any inside knowledge on why these prices are so high feel free to comment or email me.

Hey, I made it back safe and sound.  I was really lucky that I had about 4 hours to kill on Tuesday and got a chance to actually walk around the “mall” and see some great landmarks. The only other NE city reference I have is New York,NY and so Washington is pristine by comparison and I had a good time.  Nothing wacky really happened although I did get recognized at the DFW airport by the TSA.  I thought I was going to get hassled because I had all this camera equipment but all the guy did was look at my license and then say, “Are you the dude on that show?” I just smiled and nodded and he said, “I thought so. That’s a good news show.”   I said that I liked it and went right through the security line without any issues.

See, it pays to be a former pseudo celebrity traffic reporter.

Friend of mine, Danny, made a comment that I was rebelling against TV news by growing out my goatee/chin beard.  Well, after 4 years of having to shave every day, he’s exactly right! I guess the more hair I lose on my head, the more I will grow on my face.  Expect a full beard next year.  (kidding.  I hope.)

Took 3 pictures before my fat head stopped blocking Lincoln. For some reason, I was surprised by the crowds around all the landmarks.  I guess I was in my own little bubble where I think nobody else would be interested in doing the same things that I do.  Duh, gee, you mean other people might want to visit our nation’s historical landmarks? Wow.  Oh and see the guy with the red stripe shirt.  I just noticed this very second that he makes another appearance in my photos.

Doesn’t this look like a postcard. I like the framing with the green green grass and the wispy clouds touching the top of the monument.

Little bit of color manipulation highlighting the view from Lincoln’s steps.

Remember the guy in the red shirt? Here he is again at the Vietman Veterans Memorial Wall.  There are 58,256 names, including 8 women. Approximately 1,200 of these are listed as missing. I checked the directory and guess what I found?

Now I don’t/didn’t know any Dave S. Carruth Jr but it was still pretty powerful to have a connection with someone who died fighting in that war even if it was just through a common last name. I can’t imagine what his family went through.

Well, that’s it for now as I end on a shot where I actually look somewhat skinny and tall. Imagine that. I put a new lame poll up in the right corner so go pick your favorite answer now before it closes!

Well, it was kidney stones. As in more than one. Earlier I wrote a post about a horrific pain that floored me last week and I wasn’t sure if it was my new office chair or the stones, man! Well, a long painful trip to the emergency room at 4 in the morning on Saturday confirmed some other people’s suspicions that it was indeed the male version of giving birth (in terms of pain). Ah, dammit, it’s more than one. In fact, I have two on the right side and two on the left. The two guys on the left are still in the kidney just chillin’. The two on the right are making their little incredible voyage down to my bladder and seriously, it’s like a dull knife has been jabbed into your right lower back and then somebody gives it a twist now and then. And you can’t just sit still cause that makes it worse. At least if you move, it takes your mind off the pain but you have to keep moving. I ended up cleaning my bathroom at 1 in the morning. The Tylenol Codeine wasn’t working for me and so I finally had to call my sainted mother to come drive me to the hospital. I really really didn’t want to go but I had to have something for the pain. Now here’s what really sucks. I just started a new job. That means no insurance for a month. I’m in limbo so to speak. Luckily, I can pay about $400 for COBRA to kick in and cover any medical issues but couldn’t I have just waited until July to have a stones attack? By the way, hats off to HEB Medical Center in Bedford. Everybody was very nice. They took care of me fairly quickly and I’m not sure what drug they gave me to kill the pain but it was AWESOME. I’ve seen so many episodes of Scrubs, I kept expecting JD to show up and daydream. But he didn’t. Speaking of Scrubs, somebody let Sarah Chalke know that I am available. Wow. Anyway, I got a prescription for Vicodin (look out Sweet Greggo) and instructions to drink lots of water and and use a strainer. You know, a strainer when I go so they can see what the composition of the stone is. The only strainer I have is for spaghetti and I was planning on making Italian food this week. Besides those holes are awfully big.

UPDATE: I have had two “pain episodes” since Saturday and so I’ve cleaned the kitchen and folded all the laundry. If have one more, I plan on vacuuming the entire house.

Poor Uncle Barky.  He comes back from vacation and all of a sudden these random commenters start bashing him because he didn’t answer a question about the traffic girl that replaced is auditioning for my previous post at Fox 4.  And then they get mad because he doesn’t respond because he’s trying to get a comment from the news director. And then he uses that question in his blog.

Question: Has Rebecca Flores replaced Todd Carruth on Fox4 in the mornings?
“Anonoymous”

Answer: Carruth recently left Fox4 as the early morning traffic reporter because he said the hours were killing him. Rebecca Flores lately has taken on that task. Says news director Maria Barrs: “Rebecca Flores is a temporary fill-in, but is also a potential candidate for the position.”

Fairly accurate answer however, I do have one slight correction. It wasn’t the hours of the early morning shift that were killing me.  I mean Tim and Megan and Evan and Chip and everybody else can handle it. And do you know why? Because they are done at 1pm! Except for Chip who works a split shift which can wear you down big time.  I worked 4 hours a day. 5 days a week. No paid vacation.  No paid sick time. No personal days.   Sounds like a dream, huh?   Now if I was making six figures working 4 hours a day, I would have kept my mouth shut and counted my blessings every time the alarm clock went off.  But that wasn’t the case.  And so I had to leave downtown Dallas and head up to Irving where I worked full-time for another media company as a creative director until 5pm.  Yep, 12 hours a day. 5 days a week.  Now that will wear you down.  And break up your marriage.

I am going to pull back the curtain a little bit here.  Most people don’t know that I was not employed by Fox. Instead, I worked for a media company that provides traffic and news- both data and people.  In fact, a large percentage of people you hear doing traffic in DFW on the radio (and some tv) are not station employees but instead outsourced.   It’s good for the station because they don’t give out cash…just inventory for the service. It CAN be good for the reporter because there is some stability. If the station goes away, hey, the reporter is still there ready to do traffic or news or whatever for the next station.

The bad is the money.  This is not a good time to be in broadcasting.  Actually, it hasn’t been a good time to be in broadcasting for the past 10 years.   In fact, it’s always been a tough business and there’s always someone younger willing to do the same job for less money.  And in my opinion, the level of what’s acceptable on air has dropped considerably on both TV and Radio.

On the TV side, it’s more national in terms of “I can’t believe she got a job hosting this show, what were they thinking?” Not so much local.  I haven’t even watched any other news team than Good Day and everybody there was a team player and consistently amazed me with their work.

On the radio, I hear DJs in this market that I wouldn’t  put on the air announcing classical cuts at my college station, KTCU FM.   Hey Twister-FM, I’m talking to you.  But then, that’s what you get when you pay $10 an hour for a DJ. You get a $10 an hour sound.  Actually, I think Twister is about to turn into smooth jazz or something like that.

Anyway, i just want to make it clear, it wasn’t the 4 hours in the morning that were killing me. It was the extra 8 hours tacked on that drove this man to drink find another job.