Late, Later, Latest

Sweetie and i had an appointment yesterday.  The Jalopy is still in the hospital, her new heart (a good, used engine) should be delivered today, and they can start working on her next week, so we arranged to meet Ms. Freely at Sweetie's work as he got off for the day.

It was concerning something i'm probably going to be pulling teeth to convince him we need -- long term care insurance.

Ms. Freely as been in the business for over a dozen years, and in the course of talking it turns out her husband is a gear head guitar player just like Sweetie, and they know all the same people here in town.  Even if nothing else, the two of them will get together, and probably end up working on music together at some point.

Back to the business at hand.  The average person age 50 or up, which we both are now, has a 40% chance of needing long term care at some point in life, usually toward the end of life.

The cost of care is enough to make you faint.  The average nursing home stay nationwide is now up to close to 80,000/year.  Yes, really.  The average story is that mom outlives dad.  He goes into the nursing home, his care costs them everything they've ever saved, and she's left after he's gone with nothing.

No policy pays for everything, but you can at least protect yourself to an extent by having a policy, and the later you wait to get it, the more it costs.

The insurance is rated, as life insurance is, but by morbidity, not mortality.  In other words, they don't look at how likely you are to die, but at how long you are likely to live with a medical condition that makes you need care.  Women are now charged more than men, in fact, i'm 10 years Sweetie's junior and my cost of insurance is already higher.  If i wait until i'm 60 to get it, as he is, it will be prohibitive.

We kicked around a few numbers, and the only thing left is to decide which policy to try for, fill out the paperwork, and convince Sweetie that he has to have a physical so we can get this.

He has a holy horror of doctors and tests and needles, and the sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff) scares him out of his mind.

This is something we will have to do, though.  There's no way, if he needed care, that i could give it to him.  He's 6'2" and weighs over twohundredmumbledymumbldy pounds, while i'm 5'0" and don't weigh a hundred soaking wet.  There'd be no way i could physically handle his care, and you don't want to wait too long to apply and get this.  In the case of something like this, late is not good.


Today is:

Arbor Day -- Jordan

Armed Forces Day / Remembrance Day -- Nigeria

Army Day -- India

Basketball Day -- rules for the game were first published this day in 1892(day debated, year is certain)

Bikaner Camel Festival -- Bikaner, India (colorful camel activities, including a beauty competition, and fun for people also in this gorgeous fortified desert town; through tomorrow)

Chosun-gul -- North Korea (Korean Alphabet Day)

Dia del Maestro -- Venezuela (Teacher's Day)

Feast of the Ass -- Ancient Roman Calendar (celebrates Vesta being saved by a donkey)

Feast of Entering Heaven and the Two Lands -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of All Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Fiesta Del Senor de Esquipulas/Pilgrimage of Cristo Negro de Esquipulas -- Esquipulas, Guatemala (Festival of the Black Christ)

Illinois Snow Sculpting Competition -- Rockford, IL, US (frozen art fun; through Saturday)

John Chilembwe Day -- Malawi

Lenaea -- Ancient Greek Calendar (a Festival of Comedy; date approximate)

Madurai Float Festival -- Madurai, India (spectacular celebration under the full moon in Madurai, the oldest city in Tamil Nadu; through tomorrow)

Moliere Day -- France

National Hat Day -- begun by a hat loving individual who has chosen to remain anonymous

National No-Tillage Conference -- Indianapolis, IN, US (conference to encourage ecologically sound farming; through Saturday)

National Strawberry Ice Cream Day

Procrastinator's New Year -- declared by someone who had a really great sense of humor

Sailing of Wadjyt -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (the icon of the cobra goddess, Wadjyt, is carried on the Nile to visit many cities; date approximate)

St. Ita's Day (Patron of Limerick, Ireland)

St. Paul the Hermit's Day (the first of the Egyptian hermits; Patron of clothing industry, weavers)

Thiruvalluvar Day -- PY, TN, India (remembrance of the celebrated Tamil poet)

Tree Planting Day -- Egypt

Tsunahiki Matsuri -- Japan (various shrines hold tug-of-war festivals in which the team for god Ebisu vie with the team for god Daikoku; if Ebisu wins, the next year will have good catches at sea, if Daikoku, it will bring good harvests)

Tu B'Shvat -- Judaism ("New Year of the Trees", begins at sunset)

Wings Over Willcox -- Willcox, AZ, US (tours of the playa and wetlands, birding, workshops, and more; through Sunday)


Anniversaries Today:

Opening of the British Museum, 1759
Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England, 1559


Birthdays Today:

Drew Brees, 1979
Chad Lowe, 1968
Mario Van Peebles, 1957
Charo, 1951
Andrea Martin, 1947
Margaret O'Brien, 1937
Ernest J. Gaines, 1933
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929
John Cardinal O'Connor, 1920
Lloyd Bridges, 1913
Gene Krupa, 1909
Elie Siegmeister, 1909
Edward Teller, 1908
Aristotle Onassis, 1906
Goodman Ace, 1899
Pierre S. du Pont, 1870
Philip Livingston, 1766
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, a/k/a Moliere, 1622 (baptismal date, actual birth date unknown)


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Hill Street Blues"(TV), 1981
"Happy Days"(TV), 1974
The Democratic Donkey(symbol in newspaper comic), 1870
"Stella"(Goethe Play), 1816


Today in History:

Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign, in a siege lasting until July 23, BC588
Christopher Columbus sets sail for Spain from Hispaniola, ending his first voyage to the New World, 1493
Third sitting of the Council of Trent opens, 1562
The British Museum opens in Montague House in London, 1759
John Etherington of London steps out sporting the first top hat, 1797
The first US built locomotive to pull a passenger train begins its first run, with Mr. and Mrs. Pierson on board for the first US railroad honeymoon trip, 1831
The donkey is first used as a symbol for the Democratic Party, in Harper's Weekly, 1870
The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is originally incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia, 1889
James Naismith publishes the rules of Basketball, 1892
Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" premieres in St Petersburg, 1895
Dr. Lee DeForest patents a 3-element vacuum tube (one of the inventions that later made radio possible), 1907
The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African-American college women, 1908
The Boston Molasses Disaster, 2 million gallons of molasses spill, 21 killed, over 150 injured, 1919
The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio, 1936
The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia, 1943
The US Supreme Court rules that "clear and present danger" of incitement to riot is not protected speech and can be a cause for arrest, 1951
The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles; the Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10, 1967
The USSR launches Soyuz 5, 1969
The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm, 1991
Wikipedia goes online, 2001
An intense solar flare blasts X-rays across the solar system, 2005
ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon, 2005
The Stardust space mission returns dust from a comet to Earth, 2006