Insurance?! Jesus, Shepherd of Judea which one should I choose?

Tuesday, June 15, 2010
With the new laws taking effect regarding health care this can be very confusing to say the least. It will soon come to pass that if you do not have health insurance coverage, either by choice or your employer doesn't offer it, you will have to start paying the government for it.

With all the options out there you will have to choose from.

HMO, PPO, Open Access, Coinsurance, Deductibles....arrgghhhh! It can be very confusing.

Deductibles: These are paid EVERY year by the patient and vary on individual and family coverage. The higher the deductible usually the lower the premium. Kinda like care insurance.

Coinsurance: Most in network (in network means your doctor participates with that insurance company) coinsurances are 80/20. Meaning the insurance company pays 80% of the allowable amount and you are responsible for 20% of the allowable amount. Some are 90/10 and some are even 100%.

Copays: These is a fee you pay most times for only seeing the physician. This does not include the procedures which are usually thrown in under your deductible.

Now lets look at the options on the types of coverage.

HMO - (Health Maintenance Organization) This is usually your lowest paying premium that you can get.
If you choose this type of insurance my best advice would be make certain that your favorite Primary Care Physician takes that insurance and is a HMO provider for that insurance BEFORE you sign up for it.  Because if they are not you will have to say good bye to your Primary Care Physician.  Having this type of plan you will be seeing your Primary Care Physician for EVERYTHING. They become what is known as the GATEKEEPER. And no it you are not the KEYMASTER, this is not Ghostbusters.
If you have an ear ache you have to see your Primary Care Physician instead of going to your Ear, Nose and Throat specialist.  If you are having a sharp pain in your toe due to a possible fracture because your sweetie dropped a industrial size can of peas on your foot at Costco you are going to the Primary Care Physician instead of the Orthopaedic specialist. If at that time your Primary Care Physician decides that he/she can't help you and you do need to see a specialist for something he/she will write you a referral to see a specialist. No referral?! No specialist. You are at the mercy of the Primary Care Physician.
And if you do not hurry up and chose a Primary Care Physician they will chose one for you.

Open Access HMO - Open access simply is a higher up version of HMO. You don't necessarily need a referral to see a specialist. However if you do see a specialist under this plan WITHOUT a referral you will be paying A LOT more $$$$$ to do so.  With the referral for the Primary Care Physician you will only pay for a copay.

PPO - (Preferred Provider Organization) This is the creme de la creme of insurances. Also the most expensive premiums.
This gives you access to any provider at any time without a referral.

Most of all I cannot stress to you the importance of KNOWING your policy! If you have questions...ask!

And if you have any personal questions please contact me at witchwayz@gmail.com, on twitter at witchwayz or on facebook.  Or just leave a comment.

Who said stuffy people can't be fun?!

Saturday, May 29, 2010
If I am not listening to podcasts, audio books or doing a red light district vlog cast I am listening to NPR radio in my car. I enjoy the segments and it is one of the many places I get information and sparks ideas in my brain like a flint spark to a bon fire. Grant it...some of the people on this radio station I always imagined to be stuffy and pompous in person.  However this video has be thinking twice...lol 
Enjoy!

How is the Divine revealed to us?

Thursday, May 27, 2010
I wasn't going to get all religious and philosophical on everyone however this is a question I get quite a bit from other acquaintance when they find out I am a Pagan.
The best article I found that puts it into terms that are quite easy to understand is here at this site (Click here for the article)

"How is the Divine reveled to us?" in Abrahamic religion the Divine is revealed largely through a set of prophetic scriptures. But seeing as most paganisms don't have, and never had, much of that, they might have a set of traditional tales, those tales, might have been reinterpreted by a set of poets from tribe to tribe, portion of the world to portion of the world.

That was the passage from the article that is usually the basis for every religious discussion I have, usually amongst my Christian friends.

How do I know what the Divine is and that it even exists?
I am sure the generic answer is your faith. Which is the most popular answer I get from all religious discussions.
I see the Divine in every sense.
When I wake up...
I see the light and the rays carrying tiny dust particles through the air.
I hear the birds sing.
I feel the warmth of my covers.
I smell the coffee from my automatic coffee maker.
I taste the salt off my partners skin as I kiss him while he sleeps.

I see the beauty in all things and people, I also see the destruction to all that beauty in an environmental disaster and self destruction in drugs and alcohol.

I hear the message of the Divine in a symphony of music and a child's cry for attention. I also hear tragedies and perils that befall so many of rage and bigotry.

I feel the closeness of the Divine when I get a chill from a feather floating lightly across my skin, I feel it's rage when I don't respect it and get burned by the sun.

I smell it's existence when I get a whiff of fresh baked bread and it whisks me back to my grandmothers kitchen. Yet I am reminded when I smell death all around me that this plane is only one part of my journey.

I can taste the mixture of ingredients that Gaia gives willingly and brings my taste buds to life, I also can taste the blood from my tongue when I bite it to hard to keep me from screaming at someone's blissful ignorance.

In short I am just one single proof of the Divine's existence and so are you. And everyone and thing on this planet and not just this Universe but the several that are out there. The Divine's power is limitless and flows through us freely. I just choose to recognize it as a gift and plan on using that gift to its fullest ability. And by my never ending search of imagination and knowledge it unlocks more mysteries that are kept from those ignorant enough to follow blindly without asking their own questions.

That is how I know the Divine exists. 


Do you agree? How would you explain it? If you don't agree what are your viewpoints? Leave a comment or email me at witchwayz@gmail.com.


Blessed Be )o(

Dummies for Dummies (Thanks Jarred!)

Wednesday, May 26, 2010


I read a news article the other day (click here to read article) , and then the topic, strangely enough, came up in conversation with a friend on twitter. So the Universe was letting me know that this was something I just had to Blog about.
At this time I would also like to point out that I know NONE of my readers would EVER fall for things like this.
Frankly, it really SHOCKS me that a lot of people still do though.

It is called Phishing.
(fish´ing) (n.) The act of sending an e-mail or phone call to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail or caller directs the user to visit a web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords, credit card, social security and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information.

I mean it is obvious that people still do fall for these emails and calls or you wouldn't hear about them anymore. It is still, however,  very much a problem or they wouldn't make websites like http://www.hoax-slayer.com/ and even worldwide with http://www.millersmiles.co.uk/ . So the ignorance doesn't just stop in the United States folks.

I wanted to do my part to help these people. So I flew straight to my SPAM mail and picked out a few letters. I figured I would give a few HOW TO tips to spot these Phish's and fry ya up some yummy explanations.

#1 THE EMAIL ADDRESS FROM THE SENDER.
If they are to damn cheap to pay for legitimate email address they do not have all this money they state they want to give to you. Ohhh and along that same line of thought, if you see that the website they sent you to is powered by Go Daddy.com at the bottom...it probably isn't all that legit either. 

#2 If you don't remember getting an email about being the recipient to an inheritance or multi-million-dollar business proposal it is probably because ....YA DIDN'T!
Either that or you were so gawd damn stoned out of your fucking mind you thought it was a dream. I can almost 100% guarantee you that  that just isn't the case. They also like to use the term My Dear Friend and God comes up in the mix quite a bit. Who the fuck are these people anyway and IF THE WERE MY DEAR FRIENDS they would know that I am a Pagan... at least have the decency to say God AND Goddess! Geez!

#3 It came to your spam box for a reason
Most things that are sent to spam are done so for a reason. This is due to the fact that you are NOT, I repeat NOT, the only one they sent this to! But how did they get my email address then? you ask... well let me let you in on a little secret. When you go to websites and sign up for things ... whether it is a FREE EMAIL SITE, TWITTER, MYSPACE, FACEBOOK, just about ANYTHING, they have your email address. 
The fine print that everyone agrees to and they don't bother to read, usually gives that company the right to sell that information to other companies. Who in turn sells it the general public at a price. 
It's called Leads. It is all part of Marketing. And unless you live in the stone ages and you do not have a computer nor ever been on one your information is out there.... for anyone... for a price.

Now... my friend Jarred brought up a very good point. (Which btw he has an EXCELLENT blog I posted on the side under Blogs Worth Reading, called The Musings of a Confused Man) If people are still falling for these feebleminded emails and phone calls. Think what us imaginative, brilliant,  and creative people could do.  Man! These people should be singing praises that we have morals. 


I'm just sayin...


Let me know what you think by commenting or emailing me at witchwayz@gmail.com . If you would like for me to subscribe to your blog or podcast give me a shout and I'll check it out! :) Ciao Bella ya'll!


On a totally different, side, personal note. My favorite Talk DJ is back on the air and I could not be happier.  Well I could be happier if he was closer but still! Just posting this link for posterity.

Every wonder why deer freeze in headlights?

Friday, May 21, 2010
I grew up in the Midwest. Rural town Midwest. Where deer hits are one of the top 5 causes of automobile accidents per capita. I have totaled two cars hitting deers and both of them stopped dead in their tracks and just looked at me. Stupid deer. 
Of course each time I did it I bawled more for them and trying to will them to live then for the fact I was going to be without a car for awhile.

Now I have always been the kind of person that if anything remotely traumatic happens to be I have to wait a couple of days for the shock to wear off before I can really talk openly about it with anyone. Always been that way, probably always will. Okay this happened a couple of days ago so now I'm telling anyone who remotely cares.

Here is the scenario...

I go to work, park in the parking lot, decide to walk over to the whole sale food place to pick up a couple things before I start work.
Now you have to cross a very busy intersection known as State Rd 123 in order to get to this place. 4 lanes of cars in an extremely small town called Vienna.
Imagine Mayberry meets downtown Chicago traffic...you get the idea.
Not to worry though. There is a stop light in the middle of the nowhere for pedestrians to cross. The reason I say in the middle of nowhere is because it is halfway through the block. There used to be an old railway station that they ripped up and made a trail out of for bikers, walkers and all those other healthy peeps.
Anyhoo, I cross the street get my stuff and coming back. I press the button to cross the intersection and there is a bicyclist on the other side waiting.
We get the right away.

I start to walk in the street and turn to the left to see a woman in a Jeep Grand Cherokee on her cell phone yacking away, still coming....not stopping... no brakes... You see why I chose that picture up there? That is EXACTLY how I felt. KARMA! What a Bitch!!!!
As you can see I'm still here typing.. she missed by inches. Here is the weird thing though. I know why those stupid deer don't move! Strangely enough it is an almost calming feeling...you can't believe it is about to happen...it really isn't frozen by fear but more of acceptance.
"This is it...this is my time and how it is going to happen".  It is almost like your Divine self knows that this is it and you shouldn't be afraid...just accept it. Very weird.

NOVA'S Favorite Sport!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

So I am driving home from work after a spectacular day! -If you follow me on twitter you will know that is not the case- Anyhoodle! Driving home and I hit it... Noooooo not the Fucking Fairies! Traffic!
Now to live here you have to know the area and the amount of traffic your dealing with. 
Here let me draw you a picture for you.


OKAY SO I'M NO PICASSO!
Everyone whos anyone wants to work in Washington DC. So in the morning everyone is driving into the city. Traffic is a nightmare starting from 6:00 am to about 10:30 am on the major roads and even the side streets.  Now the opposite happens (turn the arrows out in your mind) from about 3:30 pm until about 8:00 pm.
Being the smart cookie that I am and that my A.D.D. makes me think 20 steps ahead instead of 3 I moved to Alexandria and kept my job in Fairfax.  Here let me draw you another map for you...
So in the morning I am going against the traffic trying to come in in the morning time :) and at night....
I am going back toward DC instead of going out. I actually learned all this when I lived in Chicago for a bit. Learned my lesson is more like it. Let me tell you there are only 2 seasons in good ol Chitown...Winter and Construction. However, that is another blog. Moving on...

So I hit traffic going home?! What is going on?! Is there a event that I don't know about. I didn't have the news on so I wasn't quite sure if there was anything major had went down. Then I saw it.  ACCIDENT AT EXIT 3A.

Of course! Everyone is playing their favorite sport here in NOVA (Northern Virginia) RUBBERNECKING!
    rubberneck [ˈrʌbəˌnɛk] Slang

n
1. a person who stares or gapes inquisitively, especially in a naive or foolish manner
2. a sightseer or tourist
vb
(intr) to stare in a naive or foolish manner

By doing this it slows traffic down to a dead HALT. It drives me insane. And this will be the only time you ever see me posting a video of something like that because I do not do it. Just did it this time to prove a point and of course write about it in my blog :)

Where are my keys, & things Google can't help me find. (Fucking Faeries!)

Monday, May 17, 2010
When we are looking for anything what is the one site we all look to (well most of us)
Yeah well I know I do.
But Google can't help me find my effin Keys! When everyone signed my year book in high school the big thing was what quotes we were known for. Mine?! You guessed it "Where are my Keys?" (<--true story..lol) 
For Xmas one year my mother bought me a device that you could attach to your keys and when you misplaced them you would whistle and a high pitched beep would go off.  
LMAO my mother said it was for blind people to find things they have misplaced. All I could picture was a blind person with a seeing eye dog trotting next to a car with the window down. But I digress. 
Anyhoodle, I got this problem licked now...I have put plastic adhesive hooks right by the door of our apartment and hang them up immediately when I get home. HOWEVER, there are mornings where I am frantically looking for my keys and it is days like these when I know it is time to give some honor to the Fae folk. (Fucking Faeries!)
You see according to Fae fearing folk, Fae are considered "Nature Angels". Unlike angels though these little creatures have egos, and love candy, sweets (especially Gingersnaps) and most like the libations. 
There are different kinds of Fae such as the Fir Darrig Pronounced FEAR DEANG


These are the type that gave me the title for this blog and the ones I curse at when I can't find something. Keys and Scissors anywhere I am be it work or home, they have a particular aversion to. I can lay a pair of scissors down on the desk, go to the other side of the room, return and they are GONE. (FUCKING FAERIES!) 
What I need in my life is a Brownie Fae. These little Fae usually attach themselves to a human or household and are usually helpful. The Guardian Angels of the Fae world if you will.
Needless to say whether it is a Asrais, Troll, Elf, Shefro, Pixie or any other number of Fae we never lack in them that if for sure. Each one of them with a special purpose and most are great!
But seriously...quit taking my stuff... please....can we come to some kind of truce? And for the love of all that is righteous and good give me back my GOD DAMN DIAPHRAGM!  FUCKING FAERIES!!!!!


Technology...ain't it grand?

Sunday, May 16, 2010
Technology has come a long way from when I was a kid. Hell I remember when a simple See and Say kept me busy for hours. "The Cow says Moooooooooooooooooooooo"

How did that thing work? It just facinated me that something so small had so many sounds in it and where the hell did that voice come from? I'm thinking now, who would record their voice for something like that and did they get any royalties for all those machines they made and distrubted? But I digress....
Now a days they have leapfrog pads for kids and hand held computers.



Telephones...used to have cords and most people had what we called party lines. That is when you shared a phone line with others in your neighborhood to cut down on cost.
And if you were real quiet you could listen to the local gossip by bitty ol ladies who had nothing better to do but talk about other peoples lifes.
When people called you and asked "Where are you!" You could officially give them their dumb ass sign because they called you at your fucking home - duh! Where else would you be! Pay phones where only a dime to make a call....as a kid I would answer the phone "Edeline's eager eye...summer here summer gone...your dime, my time...spit it out!"
 I could not make a stupid greeting like that now a days with "quarter" in it...nothing rhymes with it. Wait a minute...do they even make pay phones anymore? If so...who the fuck uses them? 
Now a days everybody has their own number with their own cell phone. When someone calls you, you immediately know who it is before you answer, can command with your voice who to call without dialing a number and when someone on the other end asks "Where are you?" it is legitimate question.

Yes this is my familiar "Satchmo"

We always had pets when I was growing up. Cats mostly...the dreaded cleaning the litter box. Emptying all that clay into the trash with a *poof* of clay dust and stench rising like a nuclear mushroom cloud stinging your nostrils and making your eyes water! Blech!
Then they come out with the scoopable cat litter and the infamous poop scoop! Better...
But now a days we have a wonderful invention of the Litter Maid where the cat goes and 10 min later after the waste solidifies the scoop automatically scoops it into a receiving container, and after 2 or 3 days you just replace the receiving container. Man I love that thing!

Ma'am?!

Saturday, May 15, 2010


I went to the store yesterday and picked the smallest line to stand in. The checker was a nice young man who looked like he just got hit by the puberty stick. 

As I inched closer checking out the tabloid headlines (Come on who doesn't?) He says "Hello Ma'am and how are you today?" Ma'am!? Ma'am?! 


I suddenly do one of those Scooby Doo flash back moments to my childhood.  Sitting in a hard cold steel plastic seat of a shopping cart with my mother. Ma'am?! that is what they said to her! Not me! I was cute, sweet, lil angel!
Yes this is really me when I was 5.

To top it all off I was buying beer in this order and he didn't even card me  . You have to look atleast 28 in order to buy tobacco products or alcohol.

I come home all depressed and defeated.
Speak nothing of this to my other half, NOTHING... NOT A DAMN WORD!
When I get home however, my other half asks me "Ma'am can I....(he wanted me to do something, frankly after I heard Ma'am I totally blocked him out) I said "WHAT?!, WHAT did you just call me?"  He said "Honey! I am from the South it is a sign of respect and just the way we were raised."
It kinda made me feel better. But I realized with everyday I'm not getting younger. And the cashier was just being polite...but Geez...you can atleast lie to me and make my day by asking for my ID!

O-well Kiddies I guess with age comes wisdom...they say(however this saying I could easily debate as well)....but I personally would take getting carded over knowing E=mc squared any day!

Really?! No I mean Seriously?!

Friday, May 14, 2010
So I was going through the drive thru of my local fast food restaurant, you know the one, with the big golden arches...
Nooooo not that one!
Anyhoodle, this C, U, N, TOLEDO pulls up at the stop light blocking the box for any of the cars to get out of the restaurant.  Now this is a rather long light, so as you can imagine everyones frustration at the dinner hour to get out or even to the window to pay, much less get their food.

She looks over and realizes what she has done and tries to scootch up. She is not really helping matters at this point as she has no more room to move unless she wants to kiss the guys bumper in front of her. So she sits back in her drivers seat and mustards up the best "I have no idea what you honking at" look and stares blindly forward.

So as I am sitting there munching down on my Chicken nuggets....mmmm golden delicious fried white meat of yummy goodness..... my A.D.D. kicks in and my mind wonders. Figuratively speaking who is blocking my box? I read the newspapers, magazines, online stuff...listen to podcasts and watch television. I try very hard to stay on top of the news. But whatever they are writing, stating or video taping, it truly is only from one perspective. What are these people blocking from society as a whole? Are they telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? And who's truth? Sad part is most of society these days take that truth as gospel without even exploring any other avenues to which the true answer may lie. Or at least an answer that would suit them better. So they take it as gospel and find reasons to either grab a pitchfork (as a mentor of mine would say), or a protest sign and jump on the bandwagon! They march away and when they get questioned about whatever it is they are picketing about they take the same blind mentality, sit back in their drivers seat and mustard up the best "I have no idea what you talking about" look and marches blindly forward. I am not talking about the ones that truly do their research and believe in their cause whole heartingly. I am talking about the ones who sign bills who have ABSOLUTELY no clue what is in the bills they are signing! Then when questioned why they have no reasonable answer. (See I told you this was a very long light, either that or I think quickly)
So Really?! I mean Seriously..who is blocking your box?