That is extremely dangerous. Particularly with many cold medicines that can have dissociative effects (see the second paragraph of this wikipedia article en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextromethorphan). I have a friend who overdosed (she wasn’t doing anything recreationally- she just took two doses of two different cold medicines at the same time) and the effects lasted over a month. She couldn’t work or anything.
Your girlfriend needs to never do this again.
Yes I think its a Taiwanese (and Indonesian ) thing. Although it’s ridiculously cheap in Taiwan, it is surprisingly not that cheap cheap in INdonesia. Of course pennies compared to seeing a doc in the USA though.
However, if one has good coverage like we do, her trip to the doc cost us 10 for the doc visit and 10 for meds. The rest paid by the insurance company. But, as said before I am paying over 400 usd/month for her health coverage (and this is only half of the cost as the company is picking up the tab for the other half).
Whopper likes mice (minnie mouse in this case):
p.s. I second NTcLT. Meds must not be mixed. Possibly fatal.
That is extremely dangerous. Particularly with many cold medicines that can have dissociative effects (see the second paragraph of this wikipedia article en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextromethorphan). I have a friend who overdosed (she wasn’t doing anything recreationally- she just took two doses of two different cold medicines at the same time) and the effects lasted over a month. She couldn’t work or anything.
Your girlfriend needs to never do this again.[/quote]
She should also be aware of the risk of Paracetamol (acetaminophen) toxicity. Maximum safe does for an adult is 4 grams every 24 hours. But taking 6 grams has been know to cause liver damage. So if she takes just 4 extra 500mg pills in 24 hours she could need a liver transplant.
This is especially risky if she has a low body-weight.
Yep, definitely a TW thing to do.
Unfortunately the best thing to do in many cases of illness is absolutely nothing, but that’s especially hard for a TW person to take 
Well it was worse when anyone could just pop over to the pharmacy and get all kinds of antibiotics without a docs prescription. Thus leading to possibly having nothing left to counter germs.
At least now one has to get a doc’s prescription for that. Docs in the USA won’t prescribe antibiotics unless necessary.
[quote=“tommy525”]But, as said before I am paying over 400 usd/month for her health coverage (and this is only half of the cost as the company is picking up the tab for the other half).
[/quote]
That’s an outrageous amount of money paid to who and for what?
I assume it must include a huge payout if the medicine fails.
No doubt, both you and the company have your asses covered either way.
[quote=“Charlie Phillips”][quote=“tommy525”]But, as said before I am paying over 400 usd/month for her health coverage (and this is only half of the cost as the company is picking up the tab for the other half).
[/quote]
That’s an outrageous amount of money paid to who and for what?
I assume it must include a huge payout if the medicine fails.
No doubt, both you and the company have your asses covered either way.[/quote]
Health insurance is astronomical in the USA now. I remember when I was between jobs bout five years ago , i bought coverage from Kaiser (a very large, if not the largest hospital group that sells its own health insurance) for about 270/month. That had no coverage for the first 5000 dollars (per annum) and then after that i had full coverage.
But costs have I guess ballooned up ? Now the company is asking roughly 110 a week from me to cover my wife (claiming they are paying another matching 110/week, but i wonder about this actually).
You can go to the Kaiser website yourself and enquire how much it would cost to insure yourself and/or with family.
individualhealthquotes.com/z … AhQ&lst=bw
But at any rate it is a LOT, compared to the peanuts they charge you guys in Taiwan.
As for the large payout if the medicine fails? You are kidding right? IF you die and you have a lawyer willing to represent you on a malpractice suit (remember you are dead though) your family may eventually get something. But its a hard battle.
I was told Docs at Kaiser make bout half a mil USD a year, but have to pay bout 100k / year on malpractice insurance.
Then they have to fork over 40pct of whats left to TAXES. So a doc will end up making bout 20,000/month or so after tax. Which is still very good. Allows a decent level of living here in the bay area.
p.s. I bet docs make more over there in Taiwan. Or at least as much after taxes. Do docs even pay income tax? I thought they along with taxi drivers and policemen and teachers don’t pay income tax?
Maybe thats changed now?
So first day of my second week (split by a week back at work) of annual leave and … I am down with the same cold/flu that my wife got from babysitting the ill kid.
On her babysitting site she marked , willing to do light house work, take care of dogs and cats and sick kids.
I told her to delete the “sick kids” part of it. NO more babysitting sick kids. Sorry. She has lost several gigs by being sick, plus the fact of being very uncomfortable for about 8 days !
And Now i have version of it. I am taking Robittussin (sp) along with ibuprofen. I like to avoid acetamenophen.
Hope I don’t spend the whole week being under the weather (which today was crazy at 39 degrees Centigrade).
OUr complex swimming pool is ice cold but today would have been a day to use it. IF i wasn’t down with the cold/flu.
Hey that MERS thing is quite a scare over there in your parts. It can easily get to Taiwan and over here to Calif. Considering how many flights a day we have from Seoul to SFO and LAX !
Health insurance is expensive in America.
But on the bright side leasing a car in America is affordable. For 800 a month you can get a nice Audi A6, a BMW five series, A Benz E class or even a MASERATI GHIBLI !! For 400 a month you can still get a whole range of nice cars to choose from.
But my budget is way thinner, like on the thin thin side. So we just got her a Prius C1 (the C is for cheapo and the 1 is the cheapest of the cheap!! ).
200 bucks a month plus sales tax with 1000 drive off !! Yippee. Now that is a deal. 24,000 miles allowed on a 2 year lease. 15 cents a mile over 24,000. Car has cloth seats (for similar sticker price, the 2015 Honda Fit comes with leather seats and a back up camera but is not a hybrid and more importantly for me, no lease available currently), simple stereo, but is bluetooth capable for music and fone, auto transmission, power up/down windows with one touch on drivers side, USB and AUX jack for music input, what else? Basic but really all you need. A back up camera would be nice (and i hear required from 2017 onwards on US sold cars) but in such a small car is ok without it. A Nav is not really needed as you can pair your fone and use the nav feature on your fone and hear the directions on the speakers through bluetooth streaming. The directions come over the music if you are playing any.
A week with the car and I can tell ya, the thing corners like my RSX. DRives on the freeway at 80mph NO problemo (a bit on the loud side getting up to 80mph, but not bad really). Top speed is 105 MPH , but that is probably going downhill ! Now our speed limit is 65mph. The “understanding” is that the CHP (CAlifornia Highway Patrol) won’t ticket you unless you are going 75mph plus. But I go down to near 65 mph when I see a cop, just the same. Normally I drive along with the flow, just slightly faster at bout 70 to 75mph. Occasionally one is with a fast pack and can get up to 80. I rarely stay long at that speed though, at least in the Bay Area. I hear on Interstate 5 down to LA one can cruise at 80 to 85. But I have not been on that road in over ten years.
Just filled the tank back up (you get a full tank at the dealer, a shout out to Toyota of Walnut Creek…those guys had the DEAL) and it cost me 5.5 gallons of regular having gone 285 miles !
That is near half of what my already extremely frugal (29mp gallon/ average) RSX usually needs in gas to go 285 miles. This sucker did about 52miles per gallon. That is roughly 22 kilometers per Liter.
That is pretty awesome.
The wife, does she like it? Yeah she does. Although she would prefer an Audi. Who would have guessed right?
I am giving her an hour’s lesson every day. To continue with the six hours of pro lessons shes gotten.
Teaching a wife how to drive is skating on THIN ICE though.
And if truth be told. She is a pretty bad driver currently !!! But then i was pretty bad too when i first started out.
My instructor went to the temple to pray after my first time on the freeway, so I am told. 
But I did take her on some challenging roads . One super difficult one tracker , mountain road she hit the gas instead of the brake and we nearly went over the side. But other then that , its been pretty good.
I was wondering why they always sent a different instructor each time we called for a pro lesson. Guess i need not wonder ! LOL
And if you are reading this wife? YOU were/are AWESOME, GREAT. INSPIRING
My RSX is a stick and there is no way she can drive it. Not just because a stick is a tuffie to learn on, but after putting the seat as far forward as possible (shes only five nothing) she could NOT depress the clutch pedal to the floor to engage a gear. Houston we have a problem !
And that is why I had to go ahead and get her a small automatic transmission car to learn on. So hopefully she can get her license in a few months and drive herself to work when she has a gig . Just for those not in the know, in CAlif you take a written test and if you pass it , you get a Learners Permit (28 bucks for 3 attempts to pass). Which allows you to drive a car ONLY if a licensed driver is with you in the car. You can NOT drive by yourself. Also she is covered under MY insurance policy as long as I am in the car with her. IF she were to drive without me in the car she would not be covered under my insurance. And if she were to be caught driving by herself with only a Learners Permit, she may not be able to take a driving test for a couple of years. They take this stuff seriously in America. If she were under 18, she would have to take something like 10 hours of professional driving instruction as well as 50 hours of driving with a licensed driver before she is allowed to take the driving test.
The driving test is not easy to pass here in California. You do it in your own car and the testor asks you to go here, go there, make a right hand turn, left hand turn, park here, etc. Its about 15 minutes if you are doing great, only a minute or two if you flunked ! MY ex GF failed even after FOUR attempts. Granted that is probably not because she is a girl and Taiwanese, more likely because I probably suck as a driving instructor. Two times going too fast, two times going too slow. Apparently they want you to drive right at the speed limit here. I generally tell my wife to drive the posted speed limit plus/minus Five MPH. And definitely not to go over 10 mph over the listed speed limit on a curve (being adventurous here though at ten mph over). No posted speed limit, go 25mph max. Actually the fuzz can give you a ticket going just 5 mph over, but usually wont. Although I have gotten TWO tickets going just 5 mph over. But those were speed traps set up just to make money. Going 30 in a 25 zone, both times. Ridiculonkus, but still costly. Paid 250 fine for the first and 165 dollars fine for the second (judge knocked it down to 165 from 250, because frankly it was ridiculous to get pulled over going 30 in a 25 zone).
She’s got work nearly every week as a nanny for small kids. So its best if she can drive herself to work. Can’t wait when she can drive. Yesterday in the early AM, i had to drive her to work (40 miles there and back). In the afternoon go and pick her up (40 miles and back) and then she wanted to hang out with her Indonesian culture group (they meet once a week) and I had to drive her another 50 miles there and back. That’s 130 miles in the day, just shuttling her butt back and forth !! CAN’T WAIT for her to get the skills to drive safely and have her license to do so.
Ours is white (extra 395 dollars to get white as it is a pearl finish…dumb…). I want the orange when i get my Lambo Huracan. Cute face right? Almost like a Huracan no?
Poor Gendut. Rough day for the little guy (and pretty rough for me too, as I had to fork over a hair under 600 dollars !!). After his annual physical a few weeks ago (and 400 worth of jabs and tests), doc wanted to clean his teeth again. He has one of those , not unheard of gum diseases that have resulted him losing most of his teeth. He still has two fangs (upper and lower) on his left side, but the ones on his right are gone. And he has two more teeth, upper and lower on the left side.
So in order to try to keep those teeth for a couple more years, he needed deep cleaning. They have to put him under and work on him. Hence the expensive charges.
Apparently some cats are more prone to gum disease and losing teeth.
Also I should have had him checked out five years ago when he was only 4 years old, when i first got him as a hand-me-down-cat. I Noticed he had bad breath. Not knowing that is a tell tale sign of gum disease. Maybe quick work at that time would’ve resulted in more teeth in his mouth at this time. But i aint no vet. And my other cats, I brought from Taiwan never had any teeth issues.
By the time i got to it last year , and spent a grand, it was mostly too late.
The doc actually wanted to remove the two back teeth today, but I said NO, let him keep it as long as he can, and we will pay to have them done when needed.
He was quite a tiger at the vets. Very growly. Had to borrow a big dog cage to transport him home.
Now a few hours later he is becoming normal again.
He will eventually lose all his teeth. The gums are too damaged through too many years of neglect. But luckily , seems cats don’t really chew their food and cats can be fine even without any teeth.
My Dad did not dare teach my stepmom how to drive. He always said teaching a wife how to drive is like skating on thin ice. So she went to a driving school. My wife has already gotten about ten hours of pro instruction. I plan to have her do a few more, solely on parking and backing up. Two things she has yet to do.
Here she is working on handling her steering wheel. To be honest, I am a LOT more nervous then she is when she is driving. 
And I probably suck as an instructor. My last student flunked her driving test 4 times in a row !!! 
We try to get in an hour or two a day. Yesterday we did some narrow roads in the Berkeley hills for two hours. Here we are back down closer to Shattuck and downtown Berkeley.
What do you think? Think shes getting the hang of it?
Was that you two who almost ran into me when I was crossing the street on Spruce!?! Of course, in Berkeley everybody is driving a “Pious”… 
Lol. No but we were on spruce in our pious.
So true Berkeley is Prius City
tammy and tommy attends Meghan Trainor concert tonight in SF.
Concert was great. Trainor kept it all together for a raucous , electrifying performance. Got there when the gates opened at 6pm. Opening act was an obscure young group from England (sorry forgot the name already). Good set, got the audience humming along. Audience was mostly teen and preteen girls (along with their moms and/or dads). I myself would have preferred going to a Fleetwood Mac concert. But the little lady wanted to see this one.
The Masonic is a great venue as we were not more then 100 feet away from Trainor and her band. Sometimes the cheap tickets are the ones to have. We were on the floor with the band (albeit standing for 3 hours) . If we go see Taylor Swift, that will be at a football stadium and we will need binoculars to see Swift herself
After the opening act (promise I will remember the name and post it) Charlie Puth came on. He got a big round of applause and his show and band were definitely tight.
Tammy scores a selfie with Charlie. He’s the guy who did the tribute song for Paul Walker in Furious 7.
Finally at 830pm Meghan comes on Stage after tammy and myself had been standing for near 2 hours and 15 minutes. For an hour she captivates the audience. Full house was on its feet virtually the entire time. Song after song, non stop. Full blast (ears still ringing). Nicely done.
CAtch her tour if you can.
p.s. the opening act was LIFE OF DILLON. Good group from England. I think they will do well.
You know after near 1000 miles and three weeks with the Prius C, I can say WOW. I am blown away by the incredible mileage. This car is currently THE most efficient car sold in the USA ! Other then pure electric cars or plug in hybrids. Beats any diesel. Beats em all.
And more incredibly. Now I like sporty cars, and I am really quite enjoying how this sucker drives. I must say I am liking it more then my wife likes it. She still stares dreamy eyed at Bmw and Audi ! LOL.
So do i but at least im a realist !
The only thing though is that since it floods in Taiwan a lot. I would be concerned about driving this thing through any standing water.
They warn you not to even carry water bottles in the back seat (near the battery) because if spilled the car could short circuit and even catch fire.
And of course using an electric motor there are certain places you do not want to mess with. You can be fatally electrocuted. Never hose down your engine bay for example.
I love the fuel savings and the car performs and rides well. I would worry bout driving through ANY standing water. And that alone may deter me from this car (if it was my one and only car) for Taiwan. Due to sudden downpours and possible flooding.
Even going through six inches of water could be a car destroying thing.
Someone said that it is easier to pass the driving test out in Vacaville. Because it is, well , a hick town. I was given to believe the DMV there was like in the middle of cow pastures or something.
Well that is not an accurate depiction of the VAcaville DMV. Now it is smack in the middle of happening places in Vacaville. Premium outlets just a few minutes drive away, all the usual plethora of restaurant chains as well. Chili’s, Chipotle, Olive Garden, Mel’s, you name it.
So it is not in the boonies at all.
We drove (or she drove) around the place to get a feel before she took the driving test. We had gone in last week to do the test and found you had to make an appointment. One could NOT just waltz over and expect to do the drive test.
So today we get our butts out there again. OMG 110 degrees Fahrenheit at 2pm. More hellish then the 88 degrees nearer Berkeley.
At least that DMV was smallish and the wait times are much much much less then ones in bigger cities for sure.
So we got all the paperwork thingies sorted and she did her 15 mins behind the wheel test with an examiner and herself alone.
Two girls (both 16 ish) wearing hot pants went before she did. Both came back passing the test. You are allowed 15 mistakes (provided none are major like running a STOP sign or light). One 16 year old squeeked by with 15 mistakes and PASSED. Immediately started imploring her poor Dad to get her a CAR, now that she had her license .
My wife was NOT wearing hot pants (although she usually does) and is not in her teens and she DID NOT PASS. She made 17 mistakes apparently. Got called on the carpet for NOT looking both ways before taking off at a STOP sign. NOt allowing oncoming traffic to pass before she turned LEFT. Turning to the right at an intersection but NOT from the bike lane like she is supposed to.
So yeah, she didn’t deserve to pass. Simply put. She however, put it down to the hot pants, or lack thereof. Claiming that had she had them on, the young male instructor may have “missed” a few of her mistakes while distracted by her legs. A claim that “perhaps” had some teeny weeny merit.
Still she did make all those mistakes as mentioned so…It’s off to another DMV another day to try again .
She has only to pay 7 bucks for each new test, up until her Learner’s Permit expires this coming November.
She has made major improvements in driving. From TRULY Horrendously Mortifying to just
Scary Bad. I’d say that is a pretty good jump in the right direction.
p.s. The Premium Outlets in Vacaville are actually quite nice, according to Tammy. She said, lots of good stuff and fair prices. She bought a pair of COACH shoes , list 220, for 89 plus tax for example. And two Aberzombie and Bitch T shirts for 10 bucks apiece.
p.p.s Apparently yesterday ,i think or the day before can’t remember, we had a 4.0 centered in Piedmont (upscale , high rent area near Oakland) of all places. On the Hayward Fault.
[quote]p.s. The Premium Outlets in Vacaville are actually quite nice, according to Tammy. She said, lots of good stuff and fair prices. She bought a pair of COACH shoes , list 220, for 89 plus tax for example. And two Aberzombie and Bitch T shirts for 10 bucks apiece.
[/quote]
So it was not all a complete loss after all. 
After she gets her driving license, can we go there for shopping to celebrate? 
[quote=“Icon”][quote]p.s. The Premium Outlets in Vacaville are actually quite nice, according to Tammy. She said, lots of good stuff and fair prices. She bought a pair of COACH shoes , list 220, for 89 plus tax for example. And two Aberzombie and Bitch T shirts for 10 bucks apiece.
[/quote]
So it was not all a complete loss after all.
After she gets her driving license, can we go there for shopping to celebrate? [/quote]
She will be happy to take ya’ll out there to do some wallet damage !! :loco:
Nice video. I’ll be driving those mean streets in a few weeks’ time.
Great, we can go have a brewski when you are back. The Pyramid abruptly closed last month. Apparently it has been sold to a San Francisco family. I guess they will reopen as a brewpub as usual, just a different name? Would make sense as all the beer making equipment seems to still be there.
Meanwhile a few others, albeit tiny, establishments have come up. I went to one, name escapes me, on 6th street , I believe. Small small place, no eats, cept a pretzel. But awesome beers made there. Expensive at 4 bucks for a half glass (6 bucks for a full glass is a better deal). But good stuff !
Maybe we can do a patrol of some of the following places.