I have a few hours by myself here in the hotel room, so I’m taking the opportunity to run a few backups to my iPod. Having a 40GB ipod, even though I only have 8GB of music makes perfect sense if you consider it just another expernal hard drive.
Earlier today, I walked a little through San Francisco after I attempted to get a perscription for my Diabetes medicine filled. It’s an interesting place. Unfortunately, the good feelings I had from yesterday’s walk have been tainted a bit by today’s experiences. I guess every city has its good parts and its bad. Yesterday, I would have ranked San Francisco in the top five of the cities I like, based on my own experiences. Now its no more than in the top twenty. Still not bad.
Speaking of medicine, this has been a learning experience. I take Avandamet, to help me regulate my blood sugar. Over a month ago I went to the web site to request a refill. All my other medicines filled, but Caremark was out of Avandamet, and suggested I try again in a few weeks. Well, several days ago, I went the web site and discovered that none of my web browsers worked. After several attempts I called their customer service and learned that their web site only supports Internet Explorer 5.5 or better.
I use a Mac, and the most recent IE on the Mac is 5.2.3. Microsoft has given up making any improvements on their browser for the Mac. So to get a perscription, I have to have a Windows computer? I tried all the modern browsers, but none of the worked, not even Firefox on Windows. IE on Windows is so great a security risk that no one should use it for anything.
While expressing my displeasure to the customer service person as firmly and politely as I could, he offered to make the perscription refill over the phone. But, oops. They were still out of Avandamet. Now Humanna, which is my medical insurance people, prohibits me from using local pharmacies except under special circumstances, so why are the out of a relatively common medication for weeks at a time?
Traveling, it was difficult to find the time to call my doctor to get a replacement perscription, but yesterday, I called around and found a local Walgreens and asked it they had the Avandamet I needed. They checked and said yes. But by the time I called my doctor back in Texas, the office was closed.
This morning, I tried again, and after several calls I reached a Real Person. Yes, they had gotten my voicemail and were at that very minute calling the San Francisco Wallgreens with my new perscription. Oh joy!
So as Mary Ann and Debra went off to do their touristy things, I learned how to do Bus travel in San Francisco and arrived at the Walgreens. All went well, except they were nearly out of Avandamet. They gave me a partial fill and told me to come back tomorrow. Oh well. One more time to see the sights.