Today is a
holiday in honor of veterans day, its nice to see the people who serve
their country getting full respect, something that isn’t always the case
in England - though I did note that the various poppy ceremonies seemed
to be better respected this year but maybe thats down to it being 100
years since WW1 began. Working for a company that places high value on
its military connections and has a large majority of staff with service
backgrounds ensures this day is properly respected & understood.
So, we enjoyed Halloween though Ryan
had to resort to his IronMan costume as his Optimus Prime one will
probably fit him when he’s 10. We rumbled round the neighborhood for 90
mins or so and tagged on with some of his school friends so he suddenly
got brave and began running up to each door - he even went into a
haunted garage which is more than his friends did.
The first opportunity to vote came
round, which I jumped at - at least I have a right to bitch about
politics now! As I’d sorted my registration with the new address I only
needed to go across the road to vote, Jessica was less organized and
ended up voting in Fairfax County. VA ended up being a close run
election which probably did little other than show the general
dissatisfaction with how the current political landscape is playing
out. It’s probable that neither party provides the answer, but sitting
on the fence accomplishing little or nothing isn’t what it’s about
either.
One of the forthcoming decisions we
face is our Medical Cover elections... as a result of the absurdly named
Affordable Care Act, it’s common practice for companies to be switching
to High Deductible plans. As we’re with BAH plans we have no choice
but to select something new and from initial checks it seems our premium
remains similar, but our family deductible (what we pay before
insurance kicks in) is much, much higher than before. Of course all of
this was predicted to be the situation, its possible that some knowledge
of this influenced the various voting patterns in the elections. I
doubt anyone can legitimately gripe about people getting coverage and
being able to afford it, but I can’t agree with anyone who says it’s
affordable when you factor in a premium & deductible that can cost
as much as $12,000 per year - I suggest if people could pay that, then
they’d have had insurance in the first place. It’s a bit like the
Prius, probably needed, probably a good idea & theory.... just
flawed when it’s not put to work correctly.
We’ve been in this house over a year -
that time has zipped by. Feels like barely yesterday Jessica was
chuffing her guts and I was lumping boxes.... we’ve had the odd blip
recently, all the lightbulbs in the kitchen clearly had a year lifespan
because they needed to be replaced, the fridge bulb joined the club of
fail and the front door lock sheared off and it too needed replacing.
Oh well, better now than at Xmas.
Which of course Ryan is looking
forward to immensely - “I want this for Christmas.” “I want Minecraft
Christmas” etc etc. We’ll see what Santa brings, at least this year
he’s behaved unlike his mother, she’s been evil all year, plotting &
scheming against me - payback is coming. And that’s all I’m going to
say!
Till next time,
J, J & R.
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