toddcarruth.com

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.

Someone turned me on to this site the other day at work.  It’s some sort of the conference that deals with Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The video that caught my attention deals with a gentleman named Benjamin Zander….”Benjamin Zander has two infectious passions: classical music, and helping us all realize our untapped love for it — and by extension, our untapped love for all new possibilities, new experiences, new connections.”

I like most classical music and the fact that the Chopin song he plays in this presentation is one that I learned oh-so-long ago helped make this short video absolutely brilliant (in my opinion).

If you have a few minutes, I strongly encourage you to check it out.

TED and Benjamin Zander on music and passion (opens to a new window)

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!

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What is that thing on my chin?

Where’s Bush? Greeting from our nation’s capitol. I am here for 3 days for a video shoot and I got a chance to go sight seeing today for a few hours. (This is a quick pick from my camera phone. I forgot the cable I needed to upload pictures from my real camera but I did get some cool shots. Show u later!)
1st impression of Washington?

• Cleaner and greener than I expected.
• Lots o’ joggers and bikers
• Diverse population - all colors here and fairly friendly.
• Washington Monument is NOT solid white. More grayish and beige.

I must have walked about 8 miles today. Saw the White House, the Washington Monument, Vietnam Memorial , Korean War Memorial and the new World War 2 Memorial. Very impressive. Had some great italian food tonight and so I’m fat and happy. Oh and by the way. The hight today was about 80. Hows that 95 plus heat working for you, Dallas? (just kidding)

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.

If you have 5 minutes to kill…this is all kinds of awesome.

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.

Went to the Ranger game on Saturday night which was kind of odd because the day before I had been thinking that it would be kind of cool to go to a game but I really didn’t want to spend the money on tickets because A) I’m not a big baseball fan and B) I don’t want to waste my money on a team that’s not doing well. But somehow through my family I was offered a pair of good seats for free to go to the game on Saturday. Apparently I can see into the future.

My sister said I had to make a Sophie’s choice and pick one son to take. I figured the one that loves sports would want to go but I checked with the skaterkid first and he said he would like to go. Crap. So much for an easy choice. I bought skaterkid a new board which made him happy and took sportskid to the game.

I told him he’s lucky I don’t have a girlfriend or she would be with me instead of him. He just looked at me for a second and then said “What girl would want to be with you?” and so I kicked him out of the car on I-30 near Fielder Road. I’m kidding. I kicked him out near 157 so he didn’t have to walk as far.

By the way, if you haven’t driven by the new Cowboy stadium lately, you really should. This thing is HUGE!  I had no idea how close it was to the Rangers Ballpark. We parked right in between the two stadiums and I wonder what they are going to do when the Cowboys and the Rangers play on the same day. Who am I kidding. That’ll never happen.  Hey, guess how much cash parking is? $12 bucks. For 12 bucks, I should get valet parking and a car wash.

The seats were really good ($40!) behind 1st base about 12 rows up. One of these days I would like to sit behind home plate and make faces at the pitcher. You know, when you sit close at a sporting event, you really develop a deeper appreciation of how good these athletes are. It’s amazing. Same thing with basketball. If you ever get a chance to sit on or close to the floor, do it. It is very cool.

I bought nachos, peanuts and 2 regular lemonades. Anybody want to guess how much? $18 bucks. So far my “free” tickets have cost me 30 dollars.  Trevor bought a sundae and the Rangers kept it close against Tampa Bay until the 8th inning when they went down by a couple of runs. We left during the 9th and listened to the end of the game in the car. Rangers had a chance to tie it but came up short.

By the way, there were TONS of families there and lots o’ babies. Does a 6-month old really appreciate a double play? Oh and surprise, Fox 4’s weather guy, Dan Henry was sitting behind me celebrating his son’s birthday. I talked to him for a minute and he said he understood why I left the morning show and that it was gig he used to do and really did not enjoy the hours. I’m still not sure that people understand it wasn’t the early mornings that got to me. It was the 2 jobs combined  Oh well.

Overall, we had a good time although Trevor said he would like to go to a game where Texas actually wins. Was it worth it? Ehhh, we had fun but tack on $80 for tickets and I’m thinking no way, Jose’ Canseco.

(rimshot)

I went to the doctor last week. Nothing wrong, just wanted to use my insurance from my other job before it expired at the end of the month so I got a full check up. The full take your shirt off, turn your head to the side and cough now turn around and bend over and look at the mirror while I introduce you to my little friend kind of check up. Blood sample, urine sample, sper… kidding, they didn’t ask for that even though I gladly offered.

Got the test results this week and…. I’m healthy as a horse. Cholesterol levels, blood sugar, everything is fine. Perfect. In fact, the only advice I got from my doctor is that I need to exercise more. D’uh. And now that I have the time, I can. Oh and he said that I look more relaxed then ever before. Maybe it was the tropical print shirt I had on?

Now with all that being said, I woke up on Thursday night at 2am with the most horrific pain in my right lower back that I have ever experienced. You know that scale of 1 to 10 that docs and nurses use when they are asking their patient how bad the pain is? Well this was a 9. A get down on your knees and repent kind of pain. I actually went and took a tylenol codeine after I had downed 2 aspirin earlier. I set the heating pad on high and tried to lay down and watch a replay of the Boston-LA game to take my mind off the pain. After about 30 excruciatingly long minutes, Boston won. Oh and the pain finally died down to a dull roar so I could fall asleep. (Actually really awesome sleep, thank you codeine!)

The panicky thought that kept going through my head the whole time I was in agony was, “I just had a check up. Everything is fine. What did they miss!”

And so I have 2 hypothesizes on what happened.
1. Kidney stone. I have had them before and they hurt like hell. And that’s why I don’t drink sodas anymore. There was a study that linked sugary soft drinks with the formation of calcium deposits that create kidney stones and so…. no more cokes for me. However, I didn’t have any err, stream issues and so I think that theory is highly unlikely.
2. New office chair. I have a new job. A new office. And a horribly expensive form fitting office chair that I hate and can’t get comfortable in and I wonder if it caused a muscle spasm in my back.

Holy crap, that really hurt. I wonder if my new company will buy me a bean bag chair to sit in?

So  how am I spending my day now that I’m not dancing on the tv?  (In the tv?)  Well, for starters, this morning I walked the  dogs, ran on the treadmill, drank my fancy coffee that I got from Central Market while watching the wind howl through the trees and paid my bills. All before I left for work.  I know that sounds so boring but to me it was awesome.

Now as far as work goes, this is what I do. (I sit on you, sorry inside joke). I work in a cubicle in a very relaxed darkened room with a bunch of graphic artists. Did I mention they are all guys.? Yeah,  it’s a sausage-fest.  Really could use some ladies in there.  Anyway, I am the digital audio/video guy.  I have been hired to spice up their presentations and drag them into Web 2.0.  So far so good but I have to pace myself because I have a tendency to work really fast. One very cool thing that is happening in 2 weeks is a work trip to Washington DC to shoot some testimonials about the company.  Plus I might throw my bid in to be Barack’s VP.  Hey, I have political experience! I used to be student council president back in junior high.

Anyway, here are a few random thoughts for Friday morning.

1. Speedracer is apparently a better movie than the critics say.  I have two friends that saw it and they both thoroughly enjoyed it.

2. Craig Ferguson is funny. Joel McHale is funnier.

2. Fancy coffee is worth it if you make it yourself.

3. My replacement, Rebecca Flores is doing a good job. But it’s still nice to hear that people miss my humorous morning antics.  I bet she won’t dance for you.