• Things I Should Warn You About

shenrydafrankmann

~ Hopeful honesty from simple sentences

shenrydafrankmann

Monthly Archives: December 2018

So what if it’s not January 1?

27 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by shenrydafrankmann in fitness

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

life, middle age, personal

Recently, I shared here that I am trying out a fitness app and using the diary feature to log my food and calorie intake.  The log takes into account any exercise for the day, a helpful motivator that helps keep it real for me.  I set a reasonable goal for weight loss and control of two pounds a week, which for a guy my age and height is 1500 calories per day.  If that sounds difficult, think again.  It’s not been difficult at all.  Since the app also has a food blog with tons of healthy recipes that are also good meals, it’s literally been a piece of cake (strawberry banana bread, actually).  Using the app has provided the discipline that my personality requires, so I have not missed a day of logging since I started nearly four weeks ago.  I can’t give a weight I am at right now because I don’t have a scale, but I know where I started.  I also know that there were clothes, especially jeans, that I couldn’t wear a month ago because they were uncomfortably tight.  Those jeans are now loose on me.

For an example of the report the diary generates, here is today’s count as of lunch.  Because of two hours of exercise this morning (that will change once I go back to work), I have some fudge (yes, real chocolaty fudge) in the calorie count today —

MyFitPal 122718

Optimism abounds for me right now, not always my state of mind this time of year when it comes to my body.  Instead of sinking into a winter pudginess, I am going the other direction.  Perhaps the old ladies at the pool this next summer will be impressed?

It doesn’t hurt that December started with snow, then turned mild.  Combined with extra days off, there has been ample opportunity to ride outside, something I have taken advantage of.  My mountain bike suffered a minor breakdown Monday, a broken rear derailleur, but thankfully I had an extra part and chain waiting — I am a little hard on that particular bike component and was ready for it.  I did use the breakage to scam a test ride on my buddy’s extra fat bike yesterday, a beast with 4.5″ tires.  Since I live alone, the Plus One factor does not affect me, so the call of new bike is very loud right now.

Here’s a picture taken last Sunday — because I know there are those who will be insisting I prove the above.  Yes, that’s my ‘lady friend’.  It’s obvious I have some ways to go, but my goal is a few months away.

IMG_20181227_075330553

 

Preferred Freeze

19 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by shenrydafrankmann in bicycling

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

fun

I never intended to end up with vacation days left this time of year, but it happened.  It just happened.  Last week, my boss and coworker both encouraged me to take the 3.5 days I had available.  So… I did.

The thing about riding dirt and sand in a mild weather December is timing.  Yes, nice comfortable temperatures during the day are wonderful, but a dirt trail turns to wet mush as the overnight freeze begins to thaw.  What does that mean to a mountain bike rider?

It means that to get a ride in, one must get out on the trail as early in the morning as possible, preferably as soon as the sun rises enough to cast light in the woods and while the top layer of dirt is still frozen.  It’s not as treacherous riding frozen dirt and sand as it sounds.  In many ways, it’s better than riding a dry trail in the summer.  Frozen dirt is usually tacky, with extra traction.  In January, riding can be more treacherous due to ice, but December riding can be fast.

IMG_20181217_102057360_HDRThe woods on a crisp winter morning are absolutely gorgeous.  I made it to the trailhead around 7:30 yesterday morning, the only other riders in the lot three guys who I could have sworn were ZZ Top.  No lie.  Two older guys with shaggy full beards and one totally normal looking guy.  They looked like serious riders, so instead of joining them I said my good mornings as I made a few adjustments to the rear shock on my bike, then rode in on my own.  A few minutes later, I crossed paths with all three guys while riding the most technical trail in the park.  While I could have kept up, it was obvious that it would have been a more intense ride than I wanted yesterday.  I just wanted to enjoy the quiet, occasionally push things a bit, get a few hours in on the bike.

I changed up my normal routine, warmed up on the trails at the front of the park.  Those trails are more challenging, a few of the trails new with challenging transitions, built on top of and in between tall berms.  They are a hoot.  There are a few drop offs that are just that — straight down and high.  I wanted to ride those before the sun started to thaw things out.

IMG_20181217_102108393_HDRThe back end of the park has a sandy section.  There is one spot that starts high in an open and sandy area, turns sharply to the left, then swoops back into the woods.  If the left turn is taken high, I can get some decent air and kick the rear wheel out before coming down and turning back into the woods.  Usually I get my wheels just enough off of the ground to make it a tiny bit of a rush.  This time, the frozen sand made it possible to take a lot of speed into the turn.  I flew, landed perfectly and caught air again over a root.  I whooped so loud I probably scared every wild animal away for miles.  I may never make that jump like that again, but for a few seconds I felt like a stud.

IMG_20181217_102124876_HDR
IMG_20181217_102137336_HDR

 

Health Insurance Roulette

11 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by shenrydafrankmann in family

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

life, personal, relationships

One of the more frustrating challenges in the past few years, especially since I changed employers March 2014, has been affordable health insurance.  When I was fired, I lost the BCBS family silver PPO that my employer subsidized.  It had been close to 25 years since I had to worry about health insurance for myself or for my family, the cost of my insurance and insurance for my family subsidized by my employer.  The pay I received from that job was bad to marginal but the health insurance benefit was above average and good, the $28 deduct from my weekly paycheck worth every penny.  Suddenly, I was faced with paying for COBRA insurance, then working through the then new federal Healthcare Marketplace.  I was offered a job two days after I was fired, but my new employer was small — a three person office with me being the only official full time domestic employee of a company based in eastern Europe.  There would be no company health insurance benefit, although the job offer included a monthly allowance for my family’s health insurance.  Even then, I would be required to pay roughly 75% of the insurance cost.

One note — I am very proud to be able to say that was only unemployed for two days.  The word of my demise spread quickly, as nasty stories have a tendency to do, and someone with my reputation and experience is rare in the industry I serve.  There was a lot of interest to hire me and the company who hired me was very happy to get someone with my experience.  Unfortunately, I needed a month to recover from the stress I had been through in the months/years leading up to the incident that led to my firing.  So much had been heaped on me for a long time, combined with financial and family/marital stress that added to the stress at work, that I had reached a breaking point.  While my employer had been extremely cruel to me, I hadn’t helped myself with my final reaction, which had been to tell my boss to fire truck off — he had been looking for a reason to fire me and was intentionally trying to push me over the edge.  After a long Wednesday that had been preceded by several long days and months of constant ruthless badgering by my boss, I handed the reason to him on a silver platter.  I can only say that I have had to learn some hard lessons about dealing with anger properly.  It’s not that I was an angry, raging lunatic, but I tried to avoid losing my temper so much that it wasn’t healthy in a lot of ways.  It hurt me physically and there were times where the frustration became too much for me to handle.  That time of my life taught me a lot of lessons, the stress actually pushing my body past its limits.  It was a good thing that I had good health insurance at the time!

For the record, no matter what my ex says, curse words are not a normal part of my daily vocabulary.  I know how many times she heard me curse in the 25 years we were married — so few that I can count the number of times on one hand.  Saying fire truck to my boss means that I was stressed out of my mind.  The day before the firing, the stress had been so bad that I had to go out to my car so that coworkers would not have to watch me lose it.  I sat in my car weeping uncontrollably for a good half hour.

I negotiated the dark waters of that first open enrollment fairly well, barely making the deadline for the 2014 open enrollment.  My son was diagnosed with borderline ADHD when he was 10 years old, prescribed the expensive medicines that go along with it.  I didn’t agree with the diagnosis then, don’t agree now, definitely question the necessity of the medications.  My boy has been exposed to an amphetamine that he will never be able to quit taking.  Those medications and the psychiatric care that goes with them make it a challenge to get affordable health insurance for him.  Most plans do not include those medications or psychiatric care.  If they do, they are very expensive.  That meant that the federal subsidy was necessary to keep the monthly insurance payment below $1000 per month.

The PPO for 2014 was discontinued at the end of 2014.  The plan that replaced it cost three times as much, making it impossible to afford even with the federal subsidy.  Through the Marketplace, I found another lower tier PPO that covered the medications required and was roughly the same cost.  It was supposed to also include the pediatrician and doctors we used.  The monthly federal subsidy was a little higher.  After signing up, we found out that our doctors had dropped out of the PPO’s network.  We were screwed for 2015.  So, when that PPO was also discontinued at the end of 2015 and replaced once again by a far more expensive PPO, I changed to an HMO for 2016 that was affordable.

2016 was the year the divorce started, although we didn’t separate until April 2017.  Late 2016, I took an advance from my retirement fund to pay off outstanding credit card debt (another stress for years, as well as a symptom of a terrible marriage).  When 2016 taxes were filed and my wife and I had separated, I received a letter from the IRS that advised that our 2016 income had exceeded the maximum combined income to receive the federal health insurance subsidy — which meant that I had less than two weeks to come up with the nearly $7000 to pay back the total 2016 insurance subsidy.  Since each of us had changed addresses, the letter got to me after the due date to pay the $7000, resulting in a hefty penalty for late payment.

This story is getting long.  Let’s just say that I was fortunate to have the money from my portion of the sale of our house.  Otherwise, it would have been much more difficult to deal with.  As it was, it depleted my savings to near nothing, making the first year of divorce a quite bit more uphill financially.  I am thankful that I planned my post divorce budget well, something I think my ex hates.  She suspects I have unlimited finances, I think, judging from the way she asks for money.  Truthfully, if I don’t stick to the budget I have set, I would be hurting.  God help me if there is an emergency (like my car is strongly hinting at now).

Things like unexpected changes to health insurance premiums can really mess with that budget.  This month, I start paying on the Parent Plus loan that I had to take out during my daughter’s junior and senior years of college.  I planned on that, but it means my budget is even more tight.  To avoid the excessive health insurance premiums and possible federal health insurance subsidy issue, this year I avoided the federal Marketplace altogether.  Instead of health insurance, I enrolled in a federally recognized health share for myself.  I found an inexpensive health insurance plan for my son — and found out that I either misunderstood what the salespeople told me or I was lied to.  His plan is a supplementary plan, not intended to be the health insurance plan.  It also doesn’t cover his prescriptions or psychiatric care, something I was careful about when shopping for his insurance, so I know I was lied to in that case.  His insurance is definitely not the plan I was told it would be.  It sounded too good to be true and it was too good to be true, as is usually the case.

So, my son needs to find insurance that meets his needs.  I have been asking him to come over to my place so we can look into a new plan for him, cancel the plan he has now.  I can’t cancel his insurance because legally I am not allowed.  I also want to see if he qualifies for a federal subsidy on his own, probably the way we can afford the insurance he needs.  I have to pay for his insurance, 100% of it, per the divorce agreement.

He is avoiding me.  Until yesterday, he ignored my phone calls and text messages.  He has done that for weeks.  I would have tried to get his mother involved, but wanted to give Nate a shot first, let him learn how to do it on his own.  I have communicated the reason why it needs to be done this way.  The open enrollment period ends this Saturday.  It has to be started a few days before or else there will be trouble.

They both answered me, partially, yesterday.  When I say partially, both said they received my messages.  So I encouraged her (and said it has to be done) to work with him to get enrollment started in the next two days.  I said I have to approve any plan enrollment before they enroll, as I have to get it approved for my employer to pay their portion.

Crickets.

The challenge isn’t just dealing with the health insurance itself.  This would be difficult if the divorce had never happened.  Dealing with it with all the angst of the divorce is making it a real challenge.  Trying to get both my son and my wife to work on getting the health insurance questions resolved requires patience… and prayer.

Cautiously Ecstatic

07 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by shenrydafrankmann in Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

neighbors

two yellow plushtoy on brown bench

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I am doing a happy dance right now, Snoopy style, without heels.  Those are next.  It’s a cautious happy dance, however, filled with the careful doubt that comes with hearing a rumor.

Hallelujah, praise Jehoshaphat!  If there were pews in my condo unit, I would be jumping them with concrete boots on, running up and down the aisles without a care in the world.

No, I am not pregnant, even with my winter gut in full rut.

No, Elizabeth Perkins did not accept one of my proposals, nor did she issue another restraining order.

No, every single possible song “performed”  and recorded by Cher or Bette Midler has not been permanently and irreparably destroyed.

Specialized has not issued me a free pass to any bike in their stable, with free upgrades for life.

I don’t buy lottery tickets.

So, you may ask, why am I so overjoyed?

The wicked witch may be leaving Oz.  I won’t have to throw a bucket of water on her or dodge flying monkeys.  My lady friend will not be required to march across my dining room floor in her high heeled ruby slippers.  Rumor is that my polish persimmon princess of a downstairs neighbor is going to list her condo unit for sale come this Spring.

How do I know this, you may ask?  You may ask.

My newest neighbor, Carol, moved in next door to me earlier this year.  Carol is a pleasant retired widow, one of those sunny characters who always greets me with a smile.  We became friends almost right after she moved in, when she rolled out of her garage on her bicycle in full cycling regalia.  I was out front loading my mountain bike on my car, so she came over to ask if I would loan her my bike tire pump.  In the evenings, we often exchange pleasantries across the balcony.

Carol is also a bit of a gossip.  That is coming in handy as I have found out.  You see, Carol is home during the day, as is Teresa the Terrible.  Recently, they met each other while Carol was walking her dog.  Teresa shared stories about the devil that lives above her.

Carol figured out who she was talking about.  🙂

Carol could not wait to tell me that she had met my best fan.  She laughed and said that if she didn’t already know me, she would have thought that Teresa really has a jerk for a neighbor.

This morning, as I took my trash out to the corner.

No, I don’t own a Trek any more.

I digress.  As I took my trash out to the corner, Carol emerged from her garage, smirk pasted on her face.  She informed me that she had news I might be just a little happy to hear.  TERESA TOLD HER SHE IS LISTING HER CONDO UNIT FOR SALE IN THE SPRING!

Anyone want to be my neighbor?

Yes, I really do say these things

  • My Father is Yacky
  • Image Bearer
  • Evening Ramble
  • Exposure of the Indecent Kind
  • Just Say Gnome

Yes, I really did

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
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  • December 2019
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  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
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  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
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  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
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  • July 2017
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  • April 2017
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  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
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  • October 2016
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  • December 2015
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  • December 2014
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  • December 2013
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  • December 2012
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Categories

My brain hurts with you

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
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  • May 2021
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  • September 2020
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  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
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  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012

Blogs I Follow (and maybe even read)

  • glennkaiser.com
  • There and Bach Again
  • Dean
  • Southern Georgia Bunny
  • The Rambling Biker
  • Storyshucker
  • Ah dad...
  • Squeeze the Space Man's Taco
  • I didn't have my glasses on....
  • kidscrumbsandcrackers
  • longawkwardpause.wordpress.com/
  • Cycling Dutch Girl
  • The Shameful Sheep
  • Blog Woman!!! - Life Uncategorized
  • Life in Lucie's Shoes
  • Fit Recovery
  • lifebeyondexaggeration
  • Globe Drifting
  • I AM TOM NARDONE
  • Cathy's Voice Now

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glennkaiser.com

There and Bach Again

a teacher's journey

Dean

Marketing major. Outdoor sports lover. San Diego living.

Southern Georgia Bunny

Adventures of an Southern Bunny everything from dating, sex, life and shake your head moments.

The Rambling Biker

Roaming & Rambling in search of MTB Stoke

Storyshucker

A blog full of humorous and poignant observations.

Ah dad...

I need the funny because they're teenagers now

Squeeze the Space Man's Taco

A journey into Cade's world

I didn't have my glasses on....

A trip through life with fingers crossed and eternal optimism.

kidscrumbsandcrackers

Kids - I`m like the old woman who lived in a shoe - Crumbs, my house is full of them - Crackers, Im slowly going

longawkwardpause.wordpress.com/

Cycling Dutch Girl

the only certainty is change

The Shameful Sheep

Blog Woman!!! - Life Uncategorized

Mother, Nehiyaw, Metis, & Itisahwâkan - career communicator. This is my collection of opinions, stories, and the occasional rise to, or fall from, challenge. In other words, it's my party, I can fun if I want to. Artwork by aaronpaquette.net

Life in Lucie's Shoes

Life in a bubble: a dose of New York humor with an Italian twist!

Fit Recovery

Stay Clean Get Fit

lifebeyondexaggeration

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stranger

Globe Drifting

Global issues, travel, photography & fashion. Drifting across the globe; the world is my oyster, my oyster through a lens.

I AM TOM NARDONE

Cathy's Voice Now

Sharing my "voice"

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