Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Archives for October 2006

Comparision shopping for healthcare

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Living in Canada, I don’t really have to worry about health care coverage like many of my American friends do. We have Provincial and National health care programs here cover all legal citizens.

Having said that I came across a website that makes comparing, researching and buying health care insurance a lot easier and cheaper. I thought my American readers might be interested in visiting this site. The company is called Vimo and they make it easy to comparison-shop for insurance, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), medical procedures, doctors and dentists.

The site is set up in a very easy to use manner. You can do all of your searches by typing in your zip code. I’ll leave it up to you to visit the site and see if it really offers money saving opportunities in health care insurance, but I have a feeling you’ll be pleased by what you see.





Construction on my street – again!

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I’ve lived in this house for five years now and do you know how many times they’ve either dug up my lawn, the sidewalk in front of my street, the street in front of my house or the street directly across from my house? Six times!

I started to become suspicious that they were going to dig up my sidewalk again as early as last spring. I’d come out of my house and see orange symbols painted on either my snow covered lawn or newly growing grass. I was worried but nothing happened and the mysterious orange symbols stopped appearing in June or so.

Then in August I noticed pink lines and symbols marked out on the sidewalk in front of my house. Well actually on the sidewalk between my tiny little lawn and my planted boulevard. Oh gawd no! They aren’t going to tear up my lawn or my lovely little planted boulevard again are they?

The pink lines are still there – they probably mark the gas or water line, but so far there’s been no digging.

Unfortunately digging has resumed on the sidewalk on the street that is directly across from my house. They had a big machine there yesterday drilling and breaking up the sidewalk – the sidewalk they just put in last year after a digging session.

It’s so noisy! I hate it!

And why is the city or various companies digging up roads and sidewalks around here so often? Why can’t they coordinate their work? I’m sure it’s costing the Taxpayers of Toronto extra money to have a new sidewalk or roadway put in the SAME place every single year.

Update- you know what they were doing? Tearing out the sidewalks they put in last year and replacing them with new ones! I think I need to talk to my representative about this. Crazy!

My meds are causing side effects

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My medications are causing side effects again … and no they aren’t causing the good kind of side effects either.

I’m back to itching, really severely itching, ALL OVER, a couple of hours after I take one of my heavy duty pain pills. There isn’t much that I can do about it since it’s a normal side effect of the drug, but geeezzzz, I’m already in pain, why do I have to itch too?

If anyone sees someone in a store or on the streets of Toronto, scratching away – It’s probably me.

To make things worse my pain doc prescribed duragesic patches yesterday. I’ve had fentanyl in the past when I’ve had one of my favorite medical tests done- the colonoscopy. They used it as a form of sedation. It does not work as a sedative on me at all – just so the GI docs out there know. I’d rather be put out with diprovan / propafol, and I’d rather not spend the rest of the day recovering from the test and itching like crazy either.

anyway, I’m going to try one of the patches in a little while. It’s a low dose patch at only 12 umg. If I’m lucky it won’t cause the dreaded itching.

Wish me luck!

Wish list – An Audi Car

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I think at some point in the near future Chris and I will have to get a new car. Probably by next year.

I haven’t really started looking at any cars yet – yes I always do my research on major purchases. However I did come across the Audi website earlier today and I spent some time looking at some of their new luxury cars. I found a few vehicles that I’d love to get if I could.

I’m drawn to sporty cars, so the new Audi TT coupe appeals to me. It’s sleek, beautiful, has race car engineering – what more could a girl want in a sports car? There’s even two folding seats in the back.

Did you know that you can get an Audi executive car with built in bullet proofing? Now I would hope that that wouldn’t be something I would need, but a CEO of a major company, or a celebrity might be interested in this very special feature.

I’m certainly having fun doing a little bit of Internet window shopping.

A Chance Meeting

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Guess who I ran into – almost literally – today?

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had a doctors appointment this morning. I went to see a family doctor that specializes in pain management, who I’ve been seeing on average once a month since last January.

I walked into the building, took the elevator to the second floor and as I was walking towards my doctors office I saw a very familiar looking lady walking towards me.

It was Adrian Clarkson, Canada’s former Governor General.

I was looking at her thinking “Is that the Governor General, yeah I’m sure it is.” and she was looking at me, and I’m certain she knew I had recognized her. I nodded my head and went past her towards my doctors office because that is what Canadians do. We acknowledge celebrities, or otherwise well known people, but we generally don’t get all excited and mob them. We go about our business and let them get on with theirs.

Now, I’m sure the Americans, and possibly others from the many other Countries, that view this site might not know exactly what a Governor General is, so I’ll tell you:

Role and Responsibilities of the Governor General

The Office of the Governor General, Canada’s oldest continuing institution, is a thread that ties Canadians together. From Samuel de Champlain in 1608 to Viscount Monck in 1867 to Vincent Massey in 1952 to today’s Governor General, the institution of Governor General dates back nearly 400 years.

What is the Governor General’s position in Government?

Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy. This means Canadians recognize The Queen as our Head of State. Canada’s Governor General carries out Her Majesty’s duties in Canada on a daily basis and is Canada’s de facto Head of State.

Like many other democracies, Canada has clearly defined the difference between the Head of State and Head of Government.

The Governor General

  • represents The Queen who is the Head of State
  • is appointed by The Queen on the advice of Canada’s Prime Minister

The Prime Minister

  • is the Head of Government
  • is the leader of the party with the most support in Parliament

What does the Governor General do?

The Governor General’s role is built on four major themes:

  • Representing the Crown in Canada
  • Representing Canadians and Promoting our Sovereignty
  • Celebrating Excellence
  • Bringing Canadians together

In a nutshell, the Right Honourable Governor General of Canada (currently Michaëlle Jean) is the closest thing we have to Royalty in Canada. I’m sure for Americans my chance meeting today would have been similar to bumping into one of your former presidents.

Actually, from time to time I work on my families history, and I believe, in fact I’m almost certain, that I might be related to one of Canadas 13 founding fathers – i.e. Canada’s Fathers of Confederation. Therefore, I might also be, in a manner of speaking, Canadian “royalty” as well.

Now isn’t that neat?

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