Consider us moved! (Again)

Yeah! We in the Dave Trojahn family are settled at 430 N. 7th Street! And for sure we are NEVER moving again. Can you believe that I now admit to being a city girl? Yes, we all love the new house, even Jacob, who was the only one hesitant to leave the country house. The new house has just the right amount of space for everyone. We are not unpacked, but I say, what's the rush? It's not like we're going anywhere.

We had lots of help with our move. Thanks to Mike who worked many a day getting the old house ready to move into, then sell. Thanks to Ben who also put in some back-breaking labor and who also neglected his family for our sake. Lest I forget, thank you to all of the "vacationers" at Christmas-time who helped with the dining room ceiling. (So who cares if most of it fell down??) By the way, Luke LOVES his new microwave--thank you Howarth's.

The list of thank you's could go on and on, but in particular I want to thank God for allowing us our (my?) heart's desire--a big beautiful, well-kept house. We worked very hard for this house, but some things were just out of our control. Those things simply worked out at the last minute. We locked in a low interest rate, making this house more affordable than the last, even though it is worth more. At the last minute, our water test passed, even without the help of the well whisperer. (He was hospitalized. Seriously.) Even the fact that this house was still available after eight months is a miracle.

I just walk around the house, saying, "I can't believe this is our house." It's that nice. You are all welcome anytime. And thanks, thanks to all of you. Thanks to God. And thanks to Dave for carrying the weight of the world, the burden of three houses, and oh, yeah, me.

While I'm talking to myself

While I'm talking to myself here... Since the movie theatre opened up down the road and we now have a built-in babysitter, Evan and I see a lot of movies. I'd highly recommend going to see the movie "Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day". Here's the trailer. It was really entertaining. http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/misspettigrewlivesforaday/trailer1/

Hello! Is this thing on?

Where's my happy birthday post? Do I have to do it myself?

So no one has had anything to say lately. Things are the same here in Texas. I'm swamped with school. I counted today and I have only 59 days until the semester is over. Then NO MORE TESTS. Well, except for the pesky NAPLEX exam that I have to pass to actually be a licensed pharmacist. But that's next year. I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel. I start clinical rotations in June at yet undisclosed locations but I suspect they will be scattered all over the metroplex.

The kids are doing well and are generally as rambunctious and noisy as ever. Last night for family home evening we took the family to see The Chipmunks Movie at the dollar theatre. But as it was Monday night, it was only 50 cents. If you round up, the movie might have been worth that much to see. The crappy cartoons I watched as a kid were better. The boys, however, thought it was hysterical. After all, there was bathroom humor. Evan brought along his iPod and a Stereophile magazine. I brought candy.

Speaking of Evan, he's beginning to hate his car and the numerous minor yet annoying problems that have developed recently. He fell in love with a 2007 VW GTI at the used car lot. The red plaid upholstery (seriously, like a kilt) and integrated iPod dock were singing a siren song that only Evan could hear. He came to his senses eventually and decided to start fixing the worse of the problems on the Neon. While replacing the faulty door lock in the Neon (that strands him periodically on the side of the road when the door fails to unlock when the door is opened), he embarked on a quest to upgrade to the woefully inadequate and partially non-functional audio system. The door was already taken apart, why NOT replace all the speakers? You know all those pesky little parts that fall out when you take the window controls apart? No? Well, keep track of them because they're expensive to replace - twice as much as the door lock to be exact.

Now all he needs is a new head unit and a subwoofer 'bazooka' for the trunk. I'm pretty sure the day he gets the audio all jazzed up like he wants it will be the day that car bursts into flames while idling at a stop light. But until then it has manifested its disgust at being tampered with by spontaneously generating a huge crack in the windshield while parked in the driveway.

I noticed there was a late blizzard in honor of Dave and Debbie's move to their new (or should I say newest) house. It was nice that the weather cooperated like that. It would be a shame if it were pleasant and sunny while you were trying to move. Speaking of pleasant and sunny, Evan and I are going to San Diego for the weekend obstenibly for the American Pharmacist Association national convention. Woo hoo! No one parties like pharmacists! Well, I'll be partying with the pharmacists. I think Evan will be visiting all the high end audio stores in the area. Or the beach. Or both.

Life SIZE disembowelment, dismemberment, and decapitation

Thanks to Dad (you're the greatest Dad EVER!) we can now enjoy not just life-like grosteskery but now it's also LIFE SIZE! Mortal Kombat has never been a better father and son bonding experience! With more than 36 SQUARE FEET of epileptic-seizure-inducing goodness, Dad's LCD projector is a electronic miracle of love. It's like you are ripping the heart out of a REAL LIVE evil Ninja IN YOUR LIVING ROOM! For those who know little of the family friendly goodness that is "Mortal Kombat - ARMEGEDON", here's a glimpse of what you are missing.

I ROCK the house....big time!!

Man! am I good at football! I'm not talking about my recent Championship win in my"Fantasy Football" league, no, no I'm talking REAL LIFE here people!!

Here I am striking a devastating and demoralizing, not to mention dashing (note: saggy crotch sweat pants) taunting pose, after a stunning and seemingly impossible interception during the Dickey-john company football game. Everyone of the 10 people who were there was very impressed. Now all my family can be too.






ps.. we lost 7 to 3, obviously i can't do it all. :(

Insurance Rant

At the risk of ruining my reputation as a "reasonable" Trojahn, I thought I'd let you in on my rant to the insurance company. I've been trying to get claims from September processed for months and this lame email response pushed me over the edge. They'll probably round file those claims now that I've sent them this nasty-gram but it made me feel better...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear MH,

Thank you for your question regarding the status of your
claims.

We have located a copy of the documents you faxed on November
21, 2007. The claims have been forwarded as an expedited
request to the appropriate department for processing. An
Explanation of Benefits will be issued shortly.

If you need additional information please call the member
services number on your Blue Shield ID card. We are here to
help.

Sincerely,
The Blue Shield Customer Service Team

----------------------------------------
Dear Blue Shield Customer Service Team:

Regarding this email you sent to me yesterday - your response is a complete and total lie. You didn't even look into the matter. If you had, you would have seen that I had submitted that claim by mail in October, again in November, and then by fax on November 21 for a THIRD TIME since you conveniently lost the first two submissions. You also would have seen that Blue Shield REFUSES to process these claims because they need a TAX ID# or NPI# WHICH NO ONE BOTHERED TO TELL ME WAS NEEDED THE FIRST TWENTY TIMES I CALLED. I assume the idea would be that the NPI# would magically appear while Blue Shield customer non-service employees sat around doing nothing for 14 weeks. It would have to arrive by magic since I couldn't possibly submit a number because no one mentioned that it was missing. Why would anyone pass on trivial information like that when the NPI# fairies can deliver it?

So the idea that you are going to process the claim "shortly" is a total load of crap and a complete lie. I faxed in the NPI# to Bridget yesterday so have someone actually look into this and do the job they are getting paid minimum wage to do and process the claim IMMEDIATELY. Not tomorrow. Not after Christmas. Not next year. IMMEDIATELY. I need an EOB saying I've met my deductible so I can send dozens of claims to my NEW insurance company that Thank Heaven and Praise The Lord ISN'T Blue Shield of California.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Just FYI - it's now January and more than six weeks since I sent this rant and they still haven't done a single thing with this claim. I wonder why?

Boy, is it quiet around here!

It 10:00 PM Sunday night, Beth, Lucy and Yogi are all sleeping. There's no one else here!

We really enjoyed having everyone here this Christmas and even thought the quiet is great, there is something to be said about all the noise and commotion. Grandkids running everywhere. Legos and Nerf Darts all over. What a wonderful time we had. By the way, does everyone know that I won the Monopoly game Saturday night?

Now, who is in charge of the July 4th family camping planing?