David S. Atkinson's Blog, page 209

Unreleased Pic Of Florida Teen Who Posed As Doctor!!!!

Apparently, a teen was caught after having been wandering around a hospital in Florida for a month pretending to be a doctor. It sounds like the kid had some mental issues, off his meds, and was not actually trying to do something bad. Police have agreed not to charge him.

However, the article also doesn’t identify him. I can understand why. After all, he’s a juvenile. In any case, he wasn’t trying to commit a crime anyway. Probably best to get him some help and not have this damage his future.

However, since I have located a picture of what I believe is this kid, I still have a duty to my readers to share it:

I Finally Think Of Some Things I Can’t Immediately Find An Animated Gif For

To be honest, I was starting to get worried over the last few days. An odd thought would enter my head and I’d wonder if I could find an animated gif for it through Google without having to search much. My first two thoughts (a dancing taco and pouring coffee) were there, sure enough. I started worrying about the amount of time people had on their hands.

After all, animated gifs do at least take a little bit of time. What were people out there doing with their lives?

However, then I thought of something and didn’t find an animated gif right off the bat (baking of a potato). If it’s out there, a quick Google images search didn’t immediately turn it up. I felt better. Then, just to be sure, I also searched for my next thought (man swallowing the sun). Nothing. Again, if it’s out there a quick Google images search didn’t turn it up.

You have no idea how relieved I feel. There may be a lot of humanity out there wasting their lives, but not as much as I’d feared.

You take solace in the things you can.

Is There An Animated Gif For Everything I Can Think Of?

After having the oddball question pop into my head yesterday whether I could find an animated gif of a dancing taco and finding out that the answer was yes, I started wondering whether I could find an animated gif already out there available on the internet for anything I could think of. The first thing I thought of, since it’s early in the morning, was pouring coffee.

Yup:

Seriously, animated gifs do take some time to put together. How much time are people spending on this sort of thing and why?

Internet Speculation: Dancing Tacos

I found myself wondering a minute ago what I would find if I typed “dancing taco animated gif” into Google. Would there be relevant search results? Given the times we live in, I was sure someone would have thought of something so pointless and unimportant. But���did such people also have little enough to do that they would bother to actually put this together?

Yep:

In fact, I found a few. Many didn’t dance and those irritated me. If I search for “dancing taco animated gif,” I expect them tacos to dance.

I mean, really.

I Might Have Been Listening To Taylor Swift If I’d Realized A Student Loan Payoff Was Possible

I’ve never gotten into Taylor Swift. I might poke fun at her from time to time, but not for any real reason. I’ve never really listened to her music…so I might actually like it for all I know (though the snippets I’ve heard haven’t gotten me to go looking). However, if I’d known that a student loan payoff was possible then I might have been listening.

Heck, I would have been a fan.

Rebekah Bortniker was a fan without knowing this. Apparently,��Rebekah was enough of a fan that��Taylor Swift sent her a gift…including a check for��$1,989 to pay off��Rebekah’s student loans.

Seriously, I would be a Lawrence Welk fan if it got my student loans paid off. I got no pride.

Maybe We Aren’t Supposed To Be Dressing Like In Back To The Future II

I have an alternative explanation to the Back to the Future II meme that is going around right now. You know the one, about how we’re supposed to dress like this now (pic says next year, but it’s 2015 now):

The answer? Cosplay.

Think about it. Marty travelled in time to the future, October 21, 2015. Maybe this was a future where Back to the Future II had become as popular as it is today (at least one prediction that would have turned out to be correct). Say it’s popular enough that there is a gigantic Back to the Future II cosplay convention going on. Say Marty unknowingly and accidentally (as well as unmentioned) arrives on October 21, 2105 in Back to the Future II at a gigantic future Back to the Future II cosplay convention. Of course they’d be dressed like in the movie.

It would explain everything, wouldn’t it?

If not, I still don’t think we need to do anything. The actual modern cosplay conventions have us covered:

 

First Acceptance Of 2015!

Just got word yesterday of my first acceptance of 2015! My flash fiction story “The Philosophical Problem of Original Jam” has been accepted for publication by Apocrypha and Abstractions.

The story will go live on July 20, 2015, so you’ll have to hang on until then. I can promise you though that the piece involves surreal absurdity, jam, and boxer shorts. As such, I’m sure you’ll want to keep an eye out for it.

Regardless, I’m thrilled about having a piece accepted by Apocrypha and Abstractions and this is a great writing start to 2015.

Now I just need to keep the ball for this year rolling.

Insurance Annoyance

I’m getting a bit annoyed with my insurance company. It isn’t the policy, just their basic administration.

Yeah, I got one of the policies off of my state’s exchange. That was cool, no problems. Got the coverage I needed for a lot less than I was paying at work. However, the company (which is a major one) seems to have trouble finding its behind with both hands.

I set up for autopay. This took a long time for them to figure out, though they eventually did. However, for the last year they’ve been billing me the month after the coverage. Even I knew this was wrong, but there was nothing I could do about it. They just kept doing it and wouldn’t change to bill me for the month ahead.

Mind you, they were also mailing me monthly bills invoicing me for my premium. These did not specify that I was on autopay and would be billed for the amount and so didn’t need to pay in response to the invoice. Every other autopay I’ve ever been on did this. Don’t know why they couldn’t figure that out…but they didn’t.

So, finally I get a notice from them that they’ve apparently been billing me wrong because I was supposed to be paying ahead. Duh. So they said this month they were going to take out two premium payments, one for last month and one for the month ahead. Get things back on track. Fine.

Only, they didn’t. They mailed my my bill like normal and took out only last month’s premium via the autopay.

Finally, I get someone on the phone. Despite the fact that they sent my a dozen or more email messages and also mailings that they’d be taking out two premiums via autopay, they couldn’t manage this for some reason. They’d in no way communicated to me that they’d had any kind of a problem. Apparently, they were just going to let my policy lapse after promising me that everything was scheduled for autopay.

I managed to pay by phone, but they couldn’t really explain to me why they’d had such an administrative problem to begin with, why they told me they were going to do something they didn’t, why they didn’t process my payment for next month via autopay like they said they were going to, or anything. These are business people?

The coverage is fine, but they can’t seem to figure out how to run the premium side of things.

Honestly, the premium side of things is something an insurer should have no problems with. I don’t see why they have so much trouble with basic operations. It’s like someone who can replicate oil paintings of the masters but can’t crayon within the lines of a preschool coloring book.

Anyway, rant over. Just had to get that out of my system.

Please Consider Supporting This Fundraiser For This Great Little Guy

I know there are a lot of fundraisers out there, but there’s one I’d specifically like you to take a look at. A friend’s little boy is very sick and his family is going to need all the help they can get. I know these people very well and I personally know this is all accurate. No pressure, but I’d like you to take a look and support in any way you can, by donating, sharing or whatever.

http://www.gofundme.com/ConnollysFight

Here is the text from the Gofundme site just so you have all the details (thanks in advance for whatever you can do):

Connolly’sFight-AplasticAnemia& MDS by Rich Johnston – GoFundMe

Meet Connolly!�� He is a rambunctious, energetic, spirited, little 21-month-old guy.�� Connolly was diagnosed in November 2014 with a rare form of blood cancer called Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) and a rare bone marrow disease called Aplastic Anemia.

MDS develops in the bone marrow and keeps Connolly���s body from properly producing enough blood cells that function properly.�� Aplastic Anemia results when the bone marrow produces too few red blood cells, white blood cells (neutrophils (ANC���s)), and platelets.�� This means the little man has no immune system and can���t fight off illnesses. Connolly’s only chance at a cure is a non-relative bone marrow transplant.�� Until a bone marrow donor is found, Connolly needs frequent blood and platelet transfusions to maintain his various blood counts.

(MDS is also known as preleukemia or smoldering leukemia.�� Connolly���s sub-type of MDS is RAEB in transformation (RAEB-t).�� Which basically means his MDS is very close to developing into Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML).���� AML that has developed after MDS is much harder to cure.�� Connolly���s ANC���s are so low that it puts his Aplastic Anemia into the sub-type of Very Severe.)

Even before a bone marrow transplant becomes possible, Connolly’s care is highly expensive. Connolly’s family must drive 45 miles each way 1-3 times a week for blood draws, monitoring of his blood levels, transfusions, and central line care. Any time his temperature reaches 100.4, he must be hospitalized.�� He has already had two lengthy hospital stays, two central line surgeries, and a bone marrow biopsy���not to mention countless emergency room visits.�� Connolly’s family tried to bear this all themselves, not wanting to burden anyone else. However, they’re swamped.

Expense will only increase when Connolly is lucky enough to find a bone marrow donor. The transplant is complicated because his bone marrow is essentially hollow due to the Aplastic Anemia.�� If his condition worsens, the transplant team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center may no longer be able to help and he would have to be transferred to a hospital that can handle his level of sickness.�� This would likely be Boston, requiring a minimum stay of at least 4-6 months and a cross-country move, magnifying the expenses even further.

As a dear friend of the family, I love their children as my own. Connolly’s parents don’t want to burden others, but they just can’t do this alone.�� I want to help take some of the financial burden and worry away. For this reason, I have created this site.�� All money donated will go to the cost of insurance co-pays, premiums and other items not covered by insurance, medicine, the endless trips to and from the hospital, meals, time Connolly’s parents can’t work, cab fare, the upcoming transplant, the possible temporary move of the family to Boston, and the other related expenses that may come up.

I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read this and considering helping Connolly and his family.�� I will regularly provide updates on Connolly���s condition.�� Any support you can provide, even just sharing this page, is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

You can follow Connolly on his Facebook page��Connolly’s Diagnosed Journey��.

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1669038829989529



I also encourage people to check out Be The Match��at this link http://bethematch.org/ to see if they are a match for a desperately needed bone marrow transplant. There are never enough donors and you can save a life.

This Pope Francis Guy Is About To Blow Up Since He Got To Meet Angelina Jolie

I’m not sure who this Pope Francis guy is, but he’s about to blow up since he got to meet Angelina Jolie:

It’s really cool that Angelina Jolie took the time to meet with him. She’s so supportive of lesser celebrities, making sure they get better known. This is going to do miracles for this guy’s career.

Way to go, Pope Francis. Don’t get a big head now.

 

 

(WARNING JUST IN CASE SOMEONE CAN’T FIGURE THIS OUT: SATIRE PRESENT)