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THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Chronological Account of the Weiss family with contextual remarks, some weather, sports and other news. You can write to me at: mhw20854@yahoo.com The people in the Weiss family are: Martin, Ann, Beth and George. I also sometimes write about other people or our pet.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Happy end to story
Ann at Suburban Hospital, Twice at Potomac Physicians

A lot of medical stuff over the past few days. Ann had tissue taken out at Suburban hospital 12-27, then the next day a consult about a small blip on the EKG she had taken the week before (as part of the pre-surgical physical). More later on the results.

UPDATE 12-29: The tissue showed no cancer cells. The blip was confirmed to be non threatening. The gastric problems have settled down also. Celebrate.

posted by Martin Weiss # 4:49 PM

Another Western - Denver to Albuquerque to Goodland storm

This time a bit south and east of the previous storm. Santa Fe had 25", Goodland, KA had 26", Evergreen, CO, had 28". This time the Denver airport stayed open, but with limited service. More people were trapped in the car or in heatless houses. On the backside, winds gusted over 120 mph at passes in the Sierra Mountains.

posted by Martin Weiss # 3:57 PM

FLAT TIRE- Someone helps

G was on the way to picking up Ann from her stress EKG test (M had dropped her off inthe early am.) The car got a flat tire on the way . Someone in a Maryland State vehicle- actually a tow truck) helped G put on the small tire (G calls it the doughnut). We got the tire fixed at Goodyear (G was impressed that they said we didn't need a new one).

posted by Martin Weiss # 3:16 PM

Saturday, December 23, 2006

The IRS answers the inquiry

Back a few days I asked the IRS a question. Well they answered very nicely and concisely. They basically confirmed that what I was doing before (treating almost all of Ann's retirement income as taxable) was correct. How about that.

posted by Martin Weiss # 12:46 PM

Friday, December 22, 2006

How to Succeed by Failing

Motivational Speakers won't like this.

One of G's professors stumbled into an odd grading policy. Based on the outcome of the first of her examines, (on which a lot of students did poorly), she established the policy that of the 3 exams, the one with the lowest score would be dropped and the second lowest would count twice, provided all three exams were taken. G actually missed the last exam but was (after an appeal) allowed to take it. He failed it. However, his failure allowed him to get an A in the course because his scores on the first two exams plus some extra credit work were high enough.

posted by Martin Weiss # 3:42 PM

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Mega Snowstorm in the Great Plains

Blizzard with heavy snow, freezing fog and mist, strong winds closed 300 miles of I-25 and 200 miles of I-70 today. Many parts of Colorado received over 2 feet of snow. One city had 5 inches in an hour. Another city had 2 hours of freezing mist, winds over 45 mph and visibility beloww 100 feet.

posted by Martin Weiss # 9:35 PM

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Marion Barry - The Gift that keeps Giving - arrested again.

This time for driving while his license was in suspension (like Elrod in the Blues Brothers).

The Park Police made the arrest. Former Mayor (and convicted drug possessor and admited adulter, etc.) Barry charged the cops with racism.

Barry has an interesting 2006. He failed a drug test in Jan and a sobriety test in May and was sentenced on tax charges in March. He was also robbed at gunpoint in January.

NBC news in Washington DC has an extensive Barry file at:

http://www.nbc4.com/news/10563556/detail.html

posted by Martin Weiss # 12:51 PM

Monday, December 18, 2006

Arenas Blows Past Franchise Records for Wizards

Playing in LA on Dec 17, Gilbert Arenas (or Washington) scored 60 points vs. the Lakers. He scored 16 in the overtime period. The Wizards won 147-141.

It was the most in franchise history beating the 56 points that Earl Monroe, playing for the Baltimore Bullets (before the move to DC) put up (also vs the Lakers) on Feb 13 1968. It was also before th 3 point rule. Arenas had 5 three point goals.

The only person who had ever scored more against the Lakers was Wilt Chamberlain (when he was with Phil) who did it multiple times.

Arenas put in 21 points from the free throw line (he shot 27 times from there; all other Wizards combined shot 3 times).

Kobe Bryant scored 45 for the Lakers.

posted by Martin Weiss # 8:29 PM

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Hannukah --- Fire Alarm

We set out candles on menorahs in an aluminum pan so the candle can't spill out. However, somehow one of the candles did fall out and started a fire on the carpet under the rolling cabinet we use to put the candles on. The fire alarms we have in the house went off alerting us to the condition, however, I didn't look there first or second or third. Finally, I smelled something that was not a candle smell and it led me to the fire. This could have been worse.

New policy - no tall menorahs. I have never really liked the Hannukah candle situation. The wax tends to clog the places the candles are supposed to go and cleaning out the wax is a problem too.

posted by Martin Weiss # 9:44 PM

Thursday, December 14, 2006

A Pleasant Hour with the IRS

Called them tonight about a tax problem. Ann gets an annuity and having blown past 55, it is unclear what the tax liability is. I assumed, in 2005, that she was liable for her entire annuity minus a small portion (a percentage of her original contribution) but G thinks I may have over paid because maybe all of it is non taxable since it is a disability retirement.

At the conclusion of the hour, the IRS couldn't answer the question partly because it seems to require a meeting between the disability specialists and the annuity sprecialists so I wrote them an email. The email instructions said to avoid disclosing personnal info so I had to call Ann "this person" and use a lot of 'abouts' instead of using actual numbers (and of course not including the SSN or any other identifier).

posted by Martin Weiss # 1:38 AM

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Two more prescriptions

Saw the doctor again Dec 12. Cavity behind the ear drum had bubbles which indicates some draining. So we decided to go with a different antibiotic and a different antihistamine. The antibiotic is supposed to suppress any infection which is cause the tissues surrounding the auditory canal to swell (and close the canal). The antihistimine is supposed to supress the production of mucus in these same tissues which may be clogging the canal if the opening has been constricted.

posted by Martin Weiss # 10:34 PM

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Losing Other Stuff - finding other stuff

On Dec 4, I purchased two specialty batteries (about $21 worth) to fix devices in Sonya Bellack's apartment for her. I couldn't find them Tuesday when I came home from work so bought two more Tues evening. I installed them Dec 6. After installing them, I found the ones I had misplaced and returned them to the store for credit. So I ended up going to RadioShack 3 times in 3 evenings (all between 830 pm and 900pm when the store closes.

posted by Martin Weiss # 10:47 PM

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Losing Stuff --- Finding Stuff

I had lost the $100 CVS credit instrument but found it the next day deep in the drawer I had already spent 20 minutes in. Then I lost about $30 in metrorail pass and rideon card. I found it under my desk at work. Both loses were yesterday. One find last night. One find today.

posted by Martin Weiss # 9:17 PM

Sunday, December 03, 2006

G gets a word spelled correctly

George wasn't drilled in spelling in grade school. It wasn't emphasized in intermediate or high school and with his use of IM english (with abbreviations like '4' instead of 'for' and U instead of 'you') his spelling is atrocious and he knows it.

So he called me last night. He wanted to tell me that he and his friends were arguing over the correct spelling of the word 'independence' (they were in an area without wfi coverage and couldn't check until later). G argued that it ended with an 'ence', the others that it ended with 'ance'. I told him that if he had a blog, it would deserve to be at the top under the title.

posted by Martin Weiss # 4:50 PM

Friday, December 01, 2006

A Tale of Two Prescriptions

Late on Nov 30 G took care of dropping off and picking up the antibiotic and antihistamine that the Ear. Nose. Throat fellow prescribed. The store somehow messed up the transaction and overcharged us by about $100 (about 900%). I noticed the problem the am of Dec 1. G first called blue cross to verify what the items should have cost and went back to the store. They gave us a store credit card for the $100.

However, G also bought a medical service (blood testing) from an out of service provider the same week at an excess cost of about $40 (which we can't recover).

Item 1 was 60 points to GriffenGeorge. Item 2 was 50 points from GriffenGeorge

posted by Martin Weiss # 7:09 PM

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