Promotion.

I was walking home from work the other night, and thinking about where my job can take me. I'll never get a raise. That's just the way it is. Promotion? Would I want one? And how would I get one? Someone has to quit of get fired or die. I thought about that last point a bit, and realized that that's just how the world works, and we accept it. The working stiffs of the world are just waiting for their bosses to die. The future is in your hands, and you're just handing it to your boss. Did I mention I don't want a promotion? Okay, if it doubled my pay, I'd do it for a year, Pretty sure I'll quit before then.

Referral.

If anyone in Maine needs a doctor, mine's moving there in July. He's really great, and really cares about his patients. He gave me his direct office line, and even called me from home on a saturday afternoon. Always good for telling it like it is in the fucked up world of health care, and hopeful for real reform, even if it takes money out of his pocket. Yesterday, when I complained about how my GI doc now uses an anesthesiologist for colonoscopies , he explained that there's a group that pays GI doctors to use anesthesiologists. That's on top of the thousands of dollars the unnecessary anesthesia cost my insurance company. (I can't even believe they paid it.) This is how we're keeping medical costs down? Anyway, he's sending me to a new GI guy who doesn't do that scam. So he gave me one last thorough going over (apparently, I have a young man's prostate) and sent me on my way with a sheet of paper telling me who he thinks my new doctor should be. Thanks for helping me through a rough nine years, doc.

I'll text you if I can't make it.

After I walked Amy home, I walked to the mailbox to insert my rent check, and realized I left my phone at work. I started to walk the three blocks back, then decided I didn't need it. Do I ever really need it? I may just stop carrying it around. Buy a watch. They're smaller, and the batteries last longer.
I think cell phones make people inconsiderate. It's easy to make plans for later with someone, but also easy to text that person and cancel right before your meeting time. Commitments are broken without thought, and obligations are obsolete. Before cells, you had to actually show up. The plan was made, and you left the house, and later you had to meet that person like you promised because if you didn't, your friend would worry and think you were dead or maybe just an asshole that always blows you off. The plan was set in motion, and you had to catch up with it. I'm not sure this cell phone thing was a good idea for me. I wonder if Eileen still doesn't have one.