The Vent and Rant Thread

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Hitch

The dogs that have been my faves, for ages, are Belgians. Love 'em all. The Malinois or the Tervuren, the Groenendael, I've never had a Laekenois. My all-time fave was an uber-smart Groenendael (nicknamed Bear, of course). Nothing like them for SMART, and of course, they are killer at obedience trials.

I only knew one of the two Dutch Shepherds my parents had. He was called Szabo, and he was *huge*; large enough for a four-year old me to sit on his back. He was so huge that my parents always suspected that he wasn't a pure Dutch Shepherd.

These are the the dogs I know of:

Trained by my mom, all police dogs:
Kazan (Male, Dutch)
Shadow (Male, Mechelaar)
Aras (Male, Terveuren)
Kizzy (Female, Mechelaar)

Now my mom has four chihuahua's: Lobo (male), Aimy (female), Bruno (male), Nero (male). Lobo and Nero are quite smart, but Aimy and Bruno are... uh... stupid.

Trained by my dad:
Szabo (Male, Dutch, Tracker)
Resi (Female, Teckel, Hunting dog)
Centa (Female, Whippet, Hunting dog)

My dad now only has a lap dog that is extremely smart: Centa, Papillon/Jack Russell cross.

[Blossom]

Success again today. Maisy took her pill. Thank you again Hitch. She has held down Food for over 24 hours.

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[ProfCrash]

On a positive note, I know wrong thread. I am starting to have some breathing issues, it feels like my asthma is kicking in but I have not had problems with it in three years, so I called my Doctor. The receptionist is trying to get with her and see if she can fit me in to her schedule today. The last time I had this type of thing start it lead to pneumonia, twice, and full blown asthma attacks, which I had never had before. I want to nip this early.

OK, so the chest thing is not good but I love my Doctor and her staff. Hopefully I can get in today or tomorrow.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

On a positive note, I know wrong thread. I am starting to have some breathing issues, it feels like my asthma is kicking in but I have not had problems with it in three years, so I called my Doctor. The receptionist is trying to get with her and see if she can fit me in to her schedule today. The last time I had this type of thing start it lead to pneumonia, twice, and full blown asthma attacks, which I had never had before. I want to nip this early.

OK, so the chest thing is not good but I love my Doctor and her staff. Hopefully I can get in today or tomorrow.

Whatever you do: AVOID Bleach and any chlorine based products.
According to poison control there is a chlorine induced pneumonia. So anytime you (generic you) have breathing problems stay away from bleach.

[Katsunami]

Is there any tablet available at this time that:

- Is (still) available in the Netherlands
- Runs stock Android 6.0 (after an *offical* update if need be)
- Is 10.1 inch or bigger
- And has a CPU that is NOT crap? (Something like an nVidia Tegra K1, or a current Qualcomm Snapdragon; not something like a MediaTek or Alwinner or other, even more undefined/unknown stuff)

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, but I can't find anything except maybe the Google Pixel C, but that tablet costs like €500 (excluding shipping and imports, as far as I can see), and that's a bit over the top.

[Katsunami]

And also, why are we always being ripped of in the Netherlands? I need some wood to build a stand to hold a stage piano. Let's pick something that's not too fancy, such as beech.

Measurements:
140 cm x 50 cm (top)
140 cm x 30 cm (back/support)
60 cm x 50 cm (legs)
Thichkness at least 25mm, better 27-28mm.

In the Netherlands, that would cost me around €300, and I have quite a lot of waste because of the sizes of the boards. Now, where can I get that a bit cheaper? Germany, where else? Where I get everything that's worth having.

There, I can get a *HUGE* 400 cm x 80 cm x 2.7 cm beech board for just over €100 (!).

The ideal size would have been a 140+60+60 = 260 cm x 80 cm board, but unfortunately, the sizes are only 200 cm, 240 cm, or 400 cm long (in the store I'm looking at). The only boards they have that are longer than 240 cm but not as long as 400 cm are 300 cm oak boards that are 3.8 cm thick. That's just too much.

Using the 400 cm x 80 cm board, I actually have a 260 cm x 80 cm and a 140 cm x 80 cm board, after sawing it. From the first part, I can make the entire stand with only a bit of waste. (2x 60 cm x 30 cm will be left over after sawing the legs.) From the second part, I can make half of the stand *AGAIN* (top and back, with no waste), for a total price that's just 1/3rd of the price in the Netherlands.

And then, our government wonders why so many people who live near the border get their stuff in Germany? Maybe, being able getting 1.5x the stuff for 1/3rd of the price is one reason?

[CRussel]

Katsunami -- I feel your pain! Living in Canada where we always pay more than the US for the same item. Even sometimes items made in Canada are cheaper to buy in the US. At least here there's a justification, since we're not in an economic union/group. In your case, it's all one EU after all!

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Katsunami -- I feel your pain! Living in Canada where we always pay more than the US for the same item. Even sometimes items made in Canada are cheaper to buy in the US. At least here there's a justification, since we're not in an economic union/group. In your case, it's all one EU after all!

While I can understand the fact that Germany is a bit cheaper because of lower VAT, I can't understand the fact why something like wood is so much cheaper that I can basically get about 1.5 times as much wood for about 33% of the price the price. That makes this item 4.5x (!) cheaper in Germany.

That's just a ridiculous price difference.

Yes, a huge 140cm x 80cm part of the board will be 'waste', which is even a lot more than the waste I would have when buying wood in the Netherlands. However, the waste from the Dutch wood are are all smaller parts that aren't really useful anymore; a board that's 140 x 80 may come in handy for something else, one day. It might even be possible to just sell it.

[Freeshadow]

Katsunami wanna trade in for coffee?
That's actually cheaper at your place. So at least were for long years tobacco and fuels.
AND you people have legal weed, AND more leeway in regards to movie & games censorship. Same in purchasing stuff like the airguns, you did
I can think of a whole lot of people wondering what you complain about.

My point is - you can't have everything.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

AND you people have legal weed, AND more leeway in regards to movie & games censorship.

Legal weed? Nope.Officially, it's forbidden, but it's tolerated. Coffee shops are in the weird position that it is allowed to sell weed, but not allowed to purchase it (so, the coffee shop has to do illegal stuff to acquire the weed in the first place... which is tolerated).

That's idiotic. Allow it or forbid it, not some sort of stupid half breed arrangement.
In Germany, games censorship is foolish. Is that also the case for 18+ games? Seeing that children don't play games that are not fit for them is a task of the parents, not of the government.

Same in purchasing stuff like the airguns, you did
I can think of a whole lot of people wondering what you complain about.

Yes, airguns. That's another idiotic arrangement. I actually want a Weihrauch HW75 (pistol), but I can't have it because it looks like a real weapon. I *can* have a pneumatic airgun rifle in 6.35 that shoots at 80 or 100 joule. (Like, 6-8 shots on a full tank of air.) I can easily kill you with that.

I'd rather have the German laws for recreational shooting in my backyard. For anything over 25m, 7.5 joule is more than enough, so I'd rather have the additional choice of guns and pistols.

My point is - you can't have everything.

Scrapping all the stupid rules and differences would go a long way. If there's one Europe, then everything, from pricing and rules should be the same. If it can't be, then there shouldn't have been a push to create a single Europe.

[ProfCrash]

OK. I am annoyed.

I have asthma but rarely have any problems. So rarely that I did not have an inhaler when I had an attack on Sunday night. Seriously, it had been three years since I had needed an inhaler and that was only after a cold had turned into something worse, which was not caught, and then became pneumonia. Stupid on my part, I should have had an inhaler, but recoverable.

I went to the Doctor yesterday. When I called, the Nurse told me that my Doctor was booked but she would see if she could get me in. My Dr told me as soon as she heard my name she made sure to get me in. It took 10 weeks that included two bouts of pneumonia, multiple respiratory infections, full blown asthma treatment (steroids, inhaler and a nebulizer) so there was no way she was ignoring my calling in with early problems. Great Doctor. Love my Doctor.

She orders me a specific inhaler and Singular as a first step to stopping this from progressing. I go to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions only to be told that my insurance will not provide for the inhaler I was prescribed and wanted me to use a totally different medicine. It took three hours to get the medicine worked out. The pharmacy had to fax the Doctors office, they had the wrong number but only found out when I called the Pharmacy after calling the Doctors office to follow up. I ended up with a different inhaler, that insurance would pay for, but have to take a higher dosage of the medicine on a more frequent basis.

Why the hell is insurance screwing with my meds? My Doctor had to justify giving me the pneumonia vaccine three years ago and that was after I had had pneumonia twice. Really? Seriously? Let the Doctors do their job and fill their scripts. Just freaking annoying.

On another note, even if you don't have many attacks make sure you have an inhaler nearby if you have had asthma. I'll be getting a new script every year at my annual check up now so I have a working inhaler that is up to date from here on out cause that really, really sucked.

[Blossom]

Because that is what health insurance companies do. They refused pay for mostly everything. When we had UnitedHealth they refused to pay for more than 90 days supply of generic Prilosec more than twice a year. They claimed safety reasons. Even with my doctor filling out the proper paperwork saying I needed this to live.

I couldn't eat without that medicine. So I would go three months eating semi normal and three months eating like a bird due to at the time no OTC available would work. I tried them all! I found something over the counter that kept bland foods down but I couldn't eat anything but bland foods.

This went on for six years till 2014 Nexium was made available over the counter. I've been on it ever since I pay $23 for a three week supply. I can eat anything now. Those days of no pizza, chocolate, soda, vegetables, no anything that taste good is over.

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[ApK]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Because that is what health insurance companies do. They refused pay for mostly everything. When we had UnitedHealth they refused to pay for more than 90 days supply of generic Prilosec more than twice a year. They claimed safety reasons. Even with my doctor filling out the proper paperwork saying I needed this to live.

We have United HealthCare now, too. They've been mostly OK so far, but my one complaint has been over the same issue: Unlike any of the other plans I've had in the past few years, they won't honor 90-day prescriptions for the two regular meds I take, only 30-days, which would mean I would have to get them filled three times more often, and pay more money....UNLESS I use their recommended mail order pharmacy! Gee...wonder what's driving THAT policy.... That's the kind of thing I should get one of those network news consumer-rights crusaders to look into.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by ApK

We have United HealthCare now, too. They've been mostly OK so far, but my one complaint has been over the same issue: Unlike any of the other plans I've had in the past few years, they won't honor 90-day prescriptions for the two regular meds I take, only 30-days, which would mean I would have to get them filled three times more often, and pay more money....UNLESS I use their recommended mail order pharmacy! Gee...wonder what's driving THAT policy.... That's the kind of thing I should get one of those network news consumer-rights crusaders to look into.

I did use Express Scripts and they still refused to fill mine. We fax, argued and everything you could do but they refused. Nexium becoming available over the counter has saved my quality of life. UnitedHealth could care less about it.

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[Katsunami]

In the Netherlands, there is a debate raging at the moment, if health insurance companies should be able to force the use of a particular brand (of medicine or not. It's even being discussed if we should be able to choose our own doctor or not. To some extent, they already force you to choose 'their' doctor, as they are, as of 2016, no longer obligated to refund costs made at a 'different' doctor.

To be honest, I think it's becoming ridiculous. It's an obligation to have a health insurance (which I think is good), but there are so many shenanigans, exclusions, exceptions and own risk to be paid up front, that I almost need to break my neck and end in the hospital for a few months to get something 'out of this insurance', if you know what I mean. And then, I have to do it every few years.

Even if I need new glasses, nothing gets refunded. I need 'extra' insurance for that, but that's so expensive that it's just cheaper to get the new glasses myself :X

I have been paying a sizable sum of at least €100 a month for the last 20 years. That comes down to at least €24.000 of insurance paid, and if something happens, I have to pay the first €370 myself or so.

If I *ever* used care for more than €370 at once somewhere in the last 20 years, then the only chance of that happening is getting a prescription for a skin rash a few years back, or the three stitches I needed to patch up a paper knife cut 15 years ago. Apart from those two incidents, I haven't needed a doctor for more than 20 years, except if I decide to have a checkup for some reason. "Oh, it has been 4.5 years... maybe I should make an appointment again."

The one thing you can add to your insurance in almost limitless quantity for some reason is dental stuff and psychological help; both of which I (normally) don't need.