One cent

My check for one cent came today, from the company that handles billing for my general practitioner (GP). The story behind that is that the GP's staff, nice as they are, don't always bill you for things you owe until months later, and then they ask for payment in person when you go in for a visit, when you've brought only enough for the co-pay for that visit. Or maybe their process is good, but the billing company is messed up. Anyway, this pattern has repeated several times, and most recently I wrote a letter to the GP about it, and wrote my check for one extra cent to the billing company that sends overdue notices as a first step. My thinking was that it costs them more than a cent to process and mail the check for the amount over.

Cheap trick, I know, and we all pay for it, not them.

I stayed home over Thanksgiving because I didn't want to be exposed to recycled germs on the plane ride. So I didn't get to see a couple of the kids in the extended family. They've have come to see us, and predictably, they have coughs. They don't seem raging sick, fortunately, but I have felt the warm draft of air from coughs directly into my face, despite the cover-your-mouth-when-you-cough warning. I don't plan on getting another respiratory function. I took one long nap this afternoon after we got back from a trip to the science museum.

At the science museum there is an exhibit demonstrating ... well, I'd like to say orbital mechanics, but that's probably not accurate ... and the coins fall down the gravity well and go to charity. I rolled a penny in and wished to be cured of ALS.