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I didn’t watch 21 again. But I have a good reason. I taped the fantastic Discovery Channel’s series called Planet Earth (they have been repeating it at night)

This is an excuse to get an HD TV.

and i have to tell you, aside from sports, this is the reason to have HD.  There are some scenes in the desert where these elephants are marching across the continent to find water and it’s truly breathtaking. Also the stuff with the sharks jumping out of the water to catch the seals.  I mean I am just sitting here and saying, “Wow.”

Even my teenagers are watching it without complaining and so you know it’s gotta be somewhat entertaining if it holds their attention.

SHORT PLOT SYNOPSIS: Um, it’s the planet.  And all the really cool animals and plants on it and stuff. In High Definition. Actually each hour focuses on  a theme like “Pole to Pole” or “Caves” or “Fresh Water”.  There is even an excellent sort of “how did they get that shot” 10 minute featurette at the end of each show.

OVERALL:Hyped up beyond belief and actually worth every bit of it.

RENT IT?:Sure.. or just tape it on Discovery Channel HD.

UPDATE: The BBC version had  David Attenborough as the narrator instead of Sigourney Weaver. CDs featuring the music have been released and three 60-minute films that highlight the conservation issues surrounding some of the featured species and environments have been produced called Planet Earth: The Future.

Okay, so back in June I had to go to the emergency room because of kidney stones.  You can read more here. (You should read it. It’s kind of funny. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.)

Okay, you back? Good. Now, the short story is that I was stuck in that wacky limbo between 2 jobs where I didn’t have any insurance.  I’m sure it’s a chance that many of us have taken. And believe me, when I was kneeling on that cold bathroom tile floor twisting my body in a desperate attempt to find a position that would lessen the pain at 3 in the morning, I was feverishly trying to hold out until 8am so I could go to a CareNow instead of an expensive emergency room visit to HEB Ho$pital.  But pain has a way of slapping you in the face and changing your mind quickly. 

Anyway, the total bill was $4227.85.   I talked with my former HR director and decided that I would come out ahead if I paid for COBRA. (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act-Now you know why they just say COBRA. )   For me, COBRA cost $569 for the month of June. Poof . And my deductable costs $500. Poof. And the emergency room visit is $100. Poof.  Sorry, that poof is my money disappearing like a magician’s dove in a flash of smoke. But at least I was covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield for the month of June.

Now, there were quite a few other folks who had their hand out when this whole ordeal went down. You would think that the emergency room bill would cover everything. Kind of a one-stop billing dept.

Yeah, not so much.

I had a few more expenses that popped up and I will be happy to share with you a little before and after.

• Radiology-If you live in DFW and you’ve had an x-ray, chances are you’ve received a green bill from “Consultants in Radiology, P.A.” I bet they have a softball team with green uniforms.
  • Bill before insurance: $360.  Bill after insurance: $21 - Awesome, that’s the way insurance should work!
• Doctor’s Bill - Huh? You mean the doc’s charge is ON TOP of the ho$pital charge? Really?  That’s like going to a restaurant and getting a bill for the food AND the waiter. “Hey Doc, if you give me another shot, I’ll tip you 25%.”
  • Bill before insurance: $260  Bill after insurance: $170 - Looks like my emergency room doctor was out of my network (Fox?) and so my insurance didn’t quite pay the 80%.   I talked to the company out of Oklahoma that sent me this invoice and I asked them if they were aware that they were “balance billing” me (I did some research) and that this was an emergency room visit and could they possibly give me an adjustment? (another buzz word I found thru research) She came back on the line and said “How about $38.07″ I said yes so fast, she barely had a chance to say the “ven” in “seven.”
• Urinalysis from ProPath - Here’s a fun one. It was $7.50. I paid it out of my pocket cause the number was just so adorable.
• Ho$pital Bill - Yeah, I keep putting the $ sign when I mention HEB just because this one is the biggie.
  • Bill before insurance: $4227.85 Bill after insurance: $962 - I know, quite a difference, huh? And I am thankful that Blue Cross Blue Shield actually came through without any hesitation. I have read some horror stories about people getting denied benefits and medical bills that make my money issues look like spare change.

Bottom line is this: I am fortunate that I am in a position where I can take care of this.  But these prices are out of whack and I hope somebody smarter than me figures out a way to get the system under control.

And if I get kidney stones again, I have a whole bottle of pain medication and vodka to last me to 8am when the CareNow opens.

So, I was all set to review 21, the movie about a bunch of MIT kids that learn how to count cards and rip off casinos but I didn’t watch yet.  Instead I got sucked in last night by MONSTER HOUSE!

Hey, I just realized I grabbed the French version of the poster. Ah, C’est la vie.  Hey, for a CG animated movie, this thing was really suspenseful.

SHORT PLOT SYNOPSIS: Scary old guy in scary old house tells kids to get off his lawn (insert Grady Niblo voice here) and 2 kids are determined to retrieve toys that keep disappearing inside a house that appears to be alive.

OVERALL: Steven Speilberg and Robert Zemeckis executive produce this animated movie that uses performance capture to render out the characters movements and facial expressions. Remember The Polar Express and how vacant and hollow the eyes of the characters were? Well, they did a much better job this time.  And the “acting” is amazing.  In fact, this movie  is almost in Pixar territory with its animation and camera angles and plot pacing, etc.  Steve Buscimi is the voice of the old guy and I even recognized Napolean Dynamite as another character. Gosh!

RENT IT?:If your kids haven’t seen it and you are looking for “scary” movie for October, then yes. It was on the Cartoon Network this past Sunday so it should probably appear again in 2 or 3 weeks.

UPDATE: The director of Monster House, Gil Kenan, has directed another movie that is coming out on October 10 called The City of Ember.  The trailer looks okay and hey, is that Bill Murray as the mayor?

• So much fun to be back on Fox but I was really dragging around noon yesterday.
• Ragweed in the air, or so I have been told. Whatever it is, it’s making me sneeze and my eyes water and I don’t like it one bit. I blame pigweed.
• Playing golf tomorrow for 36 holes. Really, that’s too much golf isn’t it?
• This morning, Ron Jackson is fillin’ in for Evan, Lynn Kawano is fillin’ for Megan, and I’m fillin’ in for Chip. I told Lynn that Fox 4 was the Fillin’ Station.  lololololo.  (Hey, I thought it was funny)
• SMU TCU tomorrow night. I will be there at Ford Stadium. I hear there may be more purple than blue and red in Dallas that night.  Frog UP!
• A little bit of Chicken Fried Bacon goes a long way. Trust me.
• I wonder if it will snow this winter? That would be awesome.
• Sorry these thoughts are lame. Todd is tired boy.
• Robyn, it took me longer than I expected to write out with that title.

Okay, so this past weekend the movie was…..The Sandlot.  I remember having a conversation with a friend the other day and getting berated because I had never seen this movie before. Even my kids yelled at me and so it showed up in the Netflix rotation on Friday and it was our choice of movie to watch on Saturday afternoon as we waited for the non-existent tropical storm from Hurricane Ike to hit Dallas-Fort Worth.

SHORT PLOT SYNOPSIS: The film is a flashback to 1962 when Scotty Smalls moves with his mother and stepfather to a new city. Hey guess what? His mom is Indiana Jones’ girlfriend/wife Karen Allen.  And his dad is a very restrained non-cigarette smoking Denis Leary. The move gave Scotty very little time to make friends before summer and he’s somewhat of a “nerd”.

Scotty doesn’t know how to throw or catch (which I find really kind of hard to believe cuz I mean what kid doesn’t take a ball outside and throw it up in the air and catch it by himself ?) Anyway, he makes friends with the local kids, learns how to play baseball but accidentally hits an important souvenir into the domain of the beast- a very scary looking dog owned by the great James Earl Jones.

OVERALL: This IS a fun movie. If you have kids 8 or above, sit down and watch it with them. It reminds me of the awesome A Christmas Story

And as I sit here and think about it, I am wondering why they didn’t just build some sort of wall or net to keep any stray balls from going over the dreaded fence and into the beast’s lair.  Maybe they would have if James Earl Jones had told them if “they build it, he will come.”

RENT IT?: If you loved A Christmas Story, you will like The Sandlot. Not fantastic (as I was led to believe) but it’s cute.

UPDATE: Would you believe there have already been 2 sequels to this movie? And a Sandlot 4 is supposed to be released this year. That sounds like a lot of balls getting lost to me.

EDITED: How many spelling errors can a guy have in 1 entry? Damn! Somebody remind me to run spell check on this thing before I post next time.

Wow, this week has really flown by, huh? And how about the cool weather! On our most recent scientific Todd Carruth.com poll(located on the the right side of the main page) on the best temperature,  the surprising winner was “hot and spicy about 90 so I can swim.”  So I guess you folks are pretty disappointed about now.

Anyway, it’s video time and here is a fun little TIger Woods video for you:

Did you know:

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September. The holiday originated in 1882 as the Central Labor Union (of New York City) sought to create “a day off for the working citizens”.

Congress made Labor Day a federal holiday in 1894.^[1] All fifty states have made Labor Day a state holiday.

Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer.

-from Wikipedia

No DVD review today but I can give a thumbs up to the 3 episodes of  Wonderfalls that I watched so far this weekend.  It was a TV show on Fox that got the ax after 3 or 4 episodes and it’s very much in the same spirit as Pushing Daisies.

I used to have one of those

OH and I finally saws Tropic Thunder. Robert Downey Jr was great but overall I was kind of like, ehhh. Tom Cruise has a cameo and he’s all decked out in makeup but it was still the Tom Cruise voice and intensity.. I don’t know. I think all the hype kind of ruined it for me. Oh…and when I walked into the theater at 9:45 pm, there were two little girls about 5 and 6 sitting on the front row with their (I guess) young mothers.  Nice. Hey idiots, rated R movies aren’t for kids. If you can’t find a sitter, then maybe you shouldn’t go.

• Took a little tour of the new Cowboy stadium yesterday for work. If you haven’t seen it in person, you really have no idea how huge this thing is.  Info on volunteer opps for the Superbowl coming in Jan 09.
• I really enjoyed the Obama speech last night. I am looking forward to the debates. Now if I can just get my mom to quit listening to Sean Hannity.
• Good job to whoever produced the the Obama video bio BTW. Very nice.
• I am getting a new office at work and I am psyched about it.  Funny story. My new boss put a request in to IT to move all my computer stuff.  IT came backand said that since I was the one that set up my computer in my old cubicle, I could move myself. This is the 2nd time in two jobs that I have been told to move myself. That’s what I get for being computer “savvy.”
• My 3 year old laptop has a crack on the top of it and it still works. Sometimes.  The screen is starting to flicker but I am not too upset. This thing is a workhorse. One time, my ex  let it slip out of her briefcase from about 4 feet off the ground and it skidded across the parking lot.  Still worked.
• The thought of going to Central Market to buy steaks for this weekend makes me happy.
• I am planning on a low key holiday but I guarantee that my neighbors will be having an ALL NIGHT lawn party.  I am going to sit on my rocking chair on the front porch and yell at kids to get off my lawn!
• I should be on Fox 4 again next month. Maybe.
• I know it’s killing Chip to not be in the chopper. Maybe they could let him do traffic and sports in the morning.
• Speaking of Fox, I had three people recognize me yesterday. And then one of them apologized for bothering me. Apologize? Please… you made my day.  Hell, you made my week.  I promised myself two years ago (after a particularly selfish stupid incident) that I would be as nice and outgoing as possible to anyone who recognizes me. So if you see me and you want to say hi, go for it!
• I am going to lose 10 lbs next month.  In fact, I have a number of fitness related goals that I am going to write down and monitor and hopefully accomplish. I figure if I stare at them, I might do them.
• I rented the TV show Wonderfalls on DVD.  From the same guy who produced Firefly. I have high expectations.
• A few milestones for this website coming up next week.  I will keep you posted.
  

  Um, yeah.

• This week’s random link is: Passive-Aggressive Notes. This little site posts pictures of notes that people have left for random strangers, friends, enemies, etc.  And these notes are usually “passive-agreessive” in nature, i.e., “the classic description of the behavior captures a stubborn malcontent, someone who passively resists fulfilling routine tasks, complains of being misunderstood and underappreciated, unreasonably scorns authority and voices exaggerated complaints of personal misfortune.”  It can be pretty funny, so if you could check out the site, um, that would be great.