Great read as always Tommy. I imagine that Whopper gets nervous on car journeys hence the repeated log-laying, though sounds like you got lucky on the return journey!
Thanks, yes that must be the reason. He likes riding in cars as much as I like riding in planes. Which means he ABSOLUTELY HATES IT. 
I tend to lay a few logs myself in the air !
[quote=âTempo Gainâ][quote=âtommy525â]
[/quote]
Great shot![/quote]
The cat is more photogenic than the wifeâŚsorry, somebody had to say it! 
Lol. Now now, thatâs no way to get on her Majestyâs Dinner invite list. The CAT on the other hand, may have YOU for dinner 
There are worse ways to die than being eaten alive by such a beautiful creatureâŚyes, Iâm still talking about the cat. 
LOL, Thank God 
[quote=âDr. Milkerâ][quote=âTempo Gainâ][quote=âtommy525â]
[/quote]
Great shot![/quote]
The cat is more photogenic than the wifeâŚsorry, somebody had to say it! [/quote]
Oh come on! Sheâs darling!
[quote=âNonTocareLeTeteâ][quote=âDr. Milkerâ][quote=âTempo Gainâ][quote=âtommy525â]
[/quote]
Great shot![/quote]
The cat is more photogenic than the wifeâŚsorry, somebody had to say it! [/quote]
Oh come on! Sheâs darling![/quote]
Yeah, not trying to knock on Tommyâs wife at all. I think anyone would look a little plain next to such a gorgeous cat. And they do make a cute couple.
Better not give Whopper any ideasâŚ
Getting a second hand cat has its problems. Whops is a second hand cat. Got him when he was 4 years old. Came to me on July 4th so to me I use that as his birthday. This July 4th he will be 9 years old !
He is in good health thankfully. The only two negatives:
He is still over weight at 19 pounds. His female Doc is more lenient saying he should be ok at 18 pounds (Maine Coon Male cats are often 16 to 18 pounds). HIs male Doc is not as lenient. That is the one we saw today for his annual physical. This Doc wants him down to 13 pounds ! Saying as he ages, having less weight to shift around is good for general health and well being (no doubt he is correct).
That means he gets a bit further reduction in his food allotment. Not good, for the whops because he basically lives almost for food, almost. And he pines and begs for more.
The second thing is that he will have to be sedated and have his teeth cleaned again. Whops unlike my cats prior would not let me brush his teeth. I use teeth cleaning gel and a medicated spray to keep things under control. But looks like his tooth cleaning from a year ago needs to be bolstered gain. That was his first ever and it costs me about 900 US dollars ! For all the tests and so forth.
Today blew 400 on the Doc visit, but the good thing is that the Doc says that the teeth cleaning should run another 350 only. Considering that the required tests are being done anyway and already paid for today.
So will schedule him for another time to get his teeth cleaned. Awaiting results of his latest blood and poo tests. Just like me, with my annual physical. Need to give blood for various test and provide a stool sample.
Animals are expensive to keep in the USA. I imagine costs are a lot less at the vet in Taiwan?
Hereâs a rundown of todayâs bill:
Doc visit 56 bucks
Rabies shot 35.52 bucks
Wellness screen (blood tests) 198 bucks
Ultrasound Cystocentesis 29.56
Feline leukemia shot 33.45
Ova and parasite test (stool sample required) 43.83
total 396.36 bucks . thank you very much.
Whopper refuses to eat anything other then dry food so we have to add as much water as he will go for. But makes it cheaper.
HIs food probably only runs 40/month (and that is for high quality name brand cat food) So thatâs bout 480 a year for food.
He eats nothing else.
Smudgey by comparison (the Persian I brought from Taiwan) ate a more varied and richer diet so he costs roughly 60/month or bout 720 a year on food. But Smudgey was in excellent health till the last few weeks of his life so had no issues to contend with. So his annual Doc visits ran only maybe 200 a year. Mainly for shots. He was thin and there seemed no need to run blood tests.
So the smudge costs roughly 1000 a year to run.
Whops Doc visits average bout 800 a year or so? So he costs bout 1300/year to run. STill pretty good Iâd say.
Of course his value and worth to us is PRICELESS
p.s. Pitch Perfect 2 was really quite good. Better then the first one even. If Whopper saw that one for sure he will be putting on another midnight concert.
So shes been doing some part time nanny gigs and generally enjoying it and making a bit of pocket money.
But last week she took care of a child that was a bit ill with the flu or something. And I was thinking âoh no, hope she doesnât get it from the kidâ. And sure enough, seems shes gotten the flu or something.
The medical methodology for getting treatment over here is possibly lacking compared to Taiwan.
Because 3 days ago she complained about the possibility of having the flu. Headache, fever, throat pain. So we called up Kaiser (our health service provider). And they have a 24 hours hotline that is really pretty good in the sense that you can get to speak to someone quickly.
The receptionist talks to you a bit, makes sure she is talking to the person with that medical record number. Then she puts you through to a nurse practitioner. And the nurse said to come in the next morning for a quick throat swab to rule out Strep Throat.
Which we did yesterday morning. And got the results this morning of NEGATIVE. But strangely no meds were prescribed for her.
So by tonight her headache is three days long. Intermittent fever and still pained throat.
So called up the hotline again tonight and got a appt with the doc for tomo AM>
Ibuprofen and Aspirin donât seem to do anything cept cause her a tummy upset. And now we are having her take an acetaminophen 500mg to see if that works.
Hopefully a simple case of the common cold !
Now the methodology is different here. We have to call up the hotline and then have a chat with a nurse who then suggests a next step.
IN Taiwan you just go to the hospital nearest you, see the doc you want to see and you get a ton of meds.
Here you donât get any meds (which may actually be ok) but you go through the process.
ToMo we see the doc, after the nurse practitioner has ruled out strep throat. IN Taiwan an emergency room visit after hours will still be extremely reasonable in this case. But over here, even with health coverage that we have (which is on the high end) we still will have to pay 50 bucks for the Emergency room visit. Versus 10 bucks for the normal doc.
If you donât have any health coverage at all in CAlif. YOu can see a doc for free only if you collapsed in the street and you were deemed homeless. Otherwise a simple ER visit can be a huge bill.
My bud spent two hours in the Emergency room once, because he may have possibly had his fake hip joint slip out.
They just gave him 2 aspirins and held him for 2 hours in a room for observation.
The bill was 17,000 US dollars billed to his health carrier !!!
Can you say ludicrous ?
p.s. oh the nurse tonight asked if the wife had been to West Africa lately? I wonder what sort of epidemic is going on over there in West Africa? Ebola? or what?
And i made a minor faux pax (not really intending anything evil) when i said âWest Africa ? NO, but West Oakland YESâ. I meant it as that we havenât really traveled anywhere far. forgetting that we had been as far away as Monterey though. But i may have sub-consciously thought of West Oakland when West Africa came up because of the large number of black people living there. I am often in Oakland, but not West Oakland. And that is really what i meant. But I thought perhaps my saying West Oakland to the nurse tonight may be construed as less then PC ?
Now if MRS Clinton had said that, there goes her chance for winning the Presidency this next election.
Ughhhh.
thanks for reminding me of the horror that awaits me when I return to America.
That said, I think itâs good they donât over-medicate for the flu. Water and lots of sleep are your best medicine. I generally only go to the doctor if an illness persists for 7 days without improving. Or, I guess, if youâve been to west africa 
Funny about west Oakland, you gotta watch out for that stuff! I called one of my friends a retard and he reminded me that I canât get away with that stuff when I return to America.
[quote]My bud spent two hours in the Emergency room once, because he may have possibly had his fake hip joint slip out.
They just gave him 2 aspirins and held him for 3 hours in a room for observation.
The bill was 17,000 US dollars billed to his health carrier !!!
Can you say ludicrous ?[/quote]
Jesus. How much is that per aspirin? Were they chewable? They mustâve been chewables.
Health care is scary. The best health care insurance is studying as much as you can about the body. But then that wonât help anyone avoid a sore throat. My gf is always running to the doctor, I just wait it out if Iâm a little sick.
I like reading these updates. Especially the prices. Superking says less prices. I want more. It makes me feel like Iâm reading a scene from the Truman Show. I really want to know how expensive life in Cali can be.
BTW Tommy, if you were wondering about the afterlife (you mentioned it a few pages back) the movie Nosso Lar is worth watching:
Have you seen Tomorrowland yet? It looks like a good flick. I hope I get some time off to see it.
Yes NontoCare, âretardâ is now considered very offensive. Maybe better to say âdodoâ There are too many âretardsâ in govt already you see And possibly the number of dodos are on the rise there as well.
To HenHao, I will see if I can get ahold of that movie. And no, have not seen tomorrowland, is it currently in the theatres?
Oh and about prices, in case you were wondering. My company pays for my health care (which is common here in the USA , but many companies do not though). But for my spouse, the company picks up half the tab and I pay the other half. And that is about 450 a month ! They bill me about 110 weekly.
If i had a wife and a child on the plan it can cost me about 800 dollars a month ! And that is with the company picking up HALF !! But luckily this money is taken directly off your annual income when you do your taxes.
Health care costs are sky high here.
I always joke in Taiwan. Instead of saying âbless youâ (or some variation) after you sneeze, locals ask if youâve seen a doctor yet.
TIL ä˝ çéŤçäşć˛ = gesundheit.
Update: Just a cold it turned out to be (thank God , no West Nile virus or something). I do say, girls really do tend to run to the doc at the first sign of a head cold. We men tough it OUT . YEAH ! I remember getting a bad case of flu (intense headache, chills, fever) for three days about six months ago. I didnât see no doc. I just drank dayquil and toughed it out. Course the ladies are smarter then we are. Why not get professional help instead of self diagnosing and self medicating? Especially when you are paying a lot for health insurance anyways.
aruaghAGHAGHRHHRHGHAHGHGHGHA
Tommy, I am a âgirlâ and I was just saying a few posts ago that I tough it out!
Jesus.
Actually it would be interesting to do some gender study on this - which gender rushes to the doctor at the first sign of a sniffle.
Youâve dated primarily Asian women, eh? Could be itâs a cultural thing rather than a gender thing. Iâve had more than one boyfriend who ran to the doc when they were sick where I always just drink lots of water, honey, ginger, lemon tea, and wait it out.
:roflmao:
My gf will run to the doc for any reason. Not only that, she will go and see THREE different doctors, and then take 3 different cocktails of meds at the same time. This goes past a cute affectation into dangerous and possibly fatal. I think itâs about needing attention and TLC, and Iâve told her that.
A manâs tendency to ignore minor symptoms until itâs too late could be equally costly in the long run. A lot of modern illnesses come from nutritional deficiencies, which could be corrected for pennies.
Iâm a girl and would never dream of going to a doctor for a cold or the flu! The last time I saw a doctor for an illness was about 5 years ago when I had food poisoning that didnât go away on its own after 3 days.
I think that the habit of running to the doc over every little sniffle is definitely a cultural thing.
Itâs certainly a Taiwanese thing to go to the doctor when you have a cold. Perhaps itâs an Indonesian thing, too. Or a thing where seeing the doctor doesnât cost you an arm and a leg. Itâs not an American thing because Iâd rather go to CVS and get some generic cold medicine than go through the hassle and prohibitive expense of seeing a doctor.