Text 19885, 87 rader
Skriven 2014-11-27 13:23:00 av NANCY BACKUS (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Re: wanderings 346
==========================
-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 11-26-14  07:20 <=-

 NB>> Insurance is a cost-benefit equation... good to have, but no need to
 NB>> overpay for unneeded coverage.  Good that you haven't had to take
 NB>> advantage of it yet, hopefully (knock on wood) never...  :)
 ML> The whole point of insurance is, well, insurance. I will
 ML> pay enough to forestall catastrophic expenses, and the
 ML> companies will charge enough to cover those expenses -
 ML> so it is to my substantial advantage that the insurers
 ML> cultivate undue fears in the general population, especially
 ML> those who have no real reason to expect that they will use
 ML> the services.

True.  I'm becoming more jaundiced towards the industry lately with the
hordes of spoofed number/place calls that have reached our house.  Many
of them hang up before anyone comes on the line, the rest are someone
with an accent (and a probably spoofed name) wanting to sign us up for
insurance quotes for home, auto, etc insurance.  And even though it
appears to be the same clearinghouse call center for all the calls, they
never catch on that NO means NO!! and not maybe we need to keep being
harassed...  ;0  And we are of the faction that actually have decent
insurance in place of almost every sort... and generally have done so
all our lives... except where circumstances made it too difficult for a
time... 
 
 NB>> I tend to agree.  :)  I suspect your griping phlebotomist was just
 NB>> tired out that day... and inclined to be grumpy...  ;)
 ML> Oh, sure. She introduced herself as the one they assigned
 ML> all the tough cases to (probably true) and remarked that
 ML> they've been trying to get rid of her for 40 years (maybe
 ML> true). One of the ones whose eccentricities are tolerated
 ML> because of their general level of competency, no doubt.

Was she well over 60?  The 40 seems a little hyperbolic...  ;)

 ML> But she failed on my veins anyway. That's when they pulled
 ML> in the chief, who was expert in using equipment that was
 ML> not widely used in this country - it's much more painful
 ML> and much less convenient but I think is used in less
 ML> developed countries and in combat situations (involves a
 ML> long rigid steel shanked needle such as you used to see
 ML> in horror movies, cartoons, and the like). And it still
 ML> took the chief 3 or 4 tries.
 
OUCH.  It's the needle that gets down deep to the ones not easily felt
on the surface, I guess...  still pretty drastic... 

 ML>> Contrary to what Dirty Dave tells us is the proper
 ML>> procedure, most chili is cooked with beans in it.
 NB>> You mean they wouldn't pick out the beans for you...?  (G)
 ML> Doesn't matter, there's bean juice in the stew.

True... :)
 
 ML>> I was in Boston South Station recently, and Heineken is
 ML>> advertising a new enhancement in beverage technology -
 ML>> offering 8.5 oz in a fashionable slim can. Of course, you
 ML>> pay a small premium for this fashion. (I was surprised
 ML>> to find it was only 5 or 10%.)
 NB>> Anything to shore up sales...?  ;)   Does it make the beer taste any
 NB>> better, or for that matter, different...?
 ML> They say that it keeps the beer colder. In which case, why
 ML> not just serve shots?

At a premium price to boot... ;)   Wouldn't look so fashionable, though,
and image is most of it, I'm sure...  :)

 ML> Go to your butcher and buy some caul fat - or in this case

/Can/ one buy caul fat at the butcher's here in the states...? (I noted
that the recipe came from South Africa)

I've been reading a new acquisition from the Folio Society, a cookbook
called Good Things, published originally in the 1970s, by Jane Grigson,
an English cook that lived in (and was influenced by) France for a
while.  She's called for using caul fat in a number of different
recipes, like it was an easily obtainable item...  ;)

It's been an interesting read.  :)

ttyl          neb

... Television is a medium: neither rare nor well done...

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