Engineer’s Attempt at Writing

Here is a valuable lesson for anyone that does grocery shopping. Never assume that the milk they sell in grocery stores haven’t expired.

I went shopping and bought half gallons of milk. I didn’t bother looking at the expiration date (my fault).  I had cereal for breakfast today. The cereal just didn’t taste right for some reason. I wasn’t sure what was wrong. I checked the cereal, then the bowl, and finally when I looked at the milk, it turned out that it was expired on January 25. I bought the milk on January 26.

This is a $4.50 lesson I won’t forget.

I recently had to go to the hospital for something. I normally don’t look at the insurance statements because by the time I received the statement, I would’ve already paid the co-payment and will not owe any money. However, this one time I saw the front of the statement, and it says I owe the hospital money because the insurance company didn’t want to pay for it. This is not what I think is unfair because I called the insurance company and they straightened it all out within 2 weeks. This is quite reasonable in my oppinion.

I received my bill again, and the amount of money that the insurance company paid out was actually less than what the hospital billed them for. After a closer examination, I found out that the insurance company actually had negotiated a discount with the hospital. This is what I don’t understand. The hospital has to spend money filling the claim to get money from an insurance company, but yet, if I were to pay this out of my own pocket, I will have to pay the full price. Why is there this discrepancy?

It actually cost the hospital less if I pay it out of my own pocket. If I paid it out of my pocket, then they do not need to file any claim. So maybe it makes sense for universal health care, then everyone can negotiate for a lower rate. Maybe everyone should be under some group that can help them negotiate a better rate. If a insurance company can do it, why can’t a government agency do the same. Think about the power such a big group has for negotiation.

I arrived in Edinburgh on December 25 after a long flight with a  stop in Germany.  My friend picked me up at the airport at around 1pm. However, because it was Christmas, the buses were pretty much not running and there were very few taxis. There was a line for the taxis, and we thought we were smart and rather than waiting in line, we tried to flag a taxi. Unfortunately for us, the taxi only stop at the designated stop.

After twenty minutes or so, we finally got on the taxi and headed back to my friend’s apartment. The apartment is a little old, but the inside was quite amazing. I especially appreciate the ceiling, but I hated their shower. While waiting to go to a party at my friend’s apartment, I met my friend’s roommate Lauren and her family. I also met three other person, “Red Vine”, “Cheezit”, and “PS”. These three characters were fun to hang out with and definitely very interesting.