Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus, Merry Yule, and whatever else y’all celebrate. All the best!

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Allegiant adding 1 flight, reinstating 2 others from Mesa’s Williams Gateway

Allegiant Air beefs up flights from Mesa Williams Gateway Airport.

Adding a 3rd MD-80 to the Williams Gateway Fleet

Reinstating flights to Illinois (Rockford & Peoria) in October, 2008

Starting flights to Great Falls, Montana in October, 2008 with introductory tickets starting at $89.00

Starbucks Offers Returning Customers $2 Iced Drinks After 2 p.m.

Looking to bring more value-seeking
consumers through its doors for a late afternoon caffeine fix,
Starbucks Corp. said it will now offer its morning customers any iced
grande beverage for $2 after 2 p.m.

STORY: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,397624,00.html

Is Carb Counting Unnecessary for Type II’s?

“A new study published in the July issue of Diabetes Care suggests that pattern management, with weekly adjustments of mealtime insulin doses, might work as well for people with type 2 diabetes as using insulin-to-carbohydrate ratios.“

Type 2 Diabetes: Is Carb Counting Unnecessary? – Diabetes Health

Physicians’ group to reopen Mesa General Hospital

A physicians’ group has signed a lease to reopen Mesa General Hospital under a new name, Arizona Regional Medical Center, and owner on Oct. 1. It will be a full-service hospital with varied specialties like internal medicine, general, vascular, and neurosurgery, cardiology, urology, ER, etc

AZCentral Story link: http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2008/07/29/20080729mr-mesagen0730.html

Qwest & DirecTV Bundle… I must be a Masochist!!! – ROUND 2

On February 14th, 2008 I blogged:

“Qwest & DirecTV Bundle… I must be a Masochist!!!
GAH!
I’m currently on hour 5 of arguing with Qwest & DirecTV about their billing foul ups. I’m getting disconnect notices from Qwest, $250.00 early cancellation fees from DirecTV, yet I have a credit balance on my ‘real’ Qwest account that matches the amount owed DirecTV. Somehow, the Qwest computers spun my DirecTV billing off to another account and fouled everything up. DirecTV assure me that my service will continue, and they will remove the $250 fee from my account… yet they’ve told me this twice so far, and it’s still there 2 weeks later. Qwest told me on 2 occasions thus far that they would fix the billing issue, investigate why my account was linked to a phone number in Yuma, AZ (I’m in the Phoenix area), and have a supervisor call me back. Haven’t heard from them since. 3 times so far Qwest have disconnected me after holding for an extended time (1 hour the last time).
Hopefully I’ll get this resolved this time. I’m tired of dealing with these guys.
I signed up for this bundle because it was easy & convenient, and because I hate, loathe, and despise Cox Communications, who have a monopoly on cable service in my area now. Compared to this mess, even Cox is beginning to look good, and I miss my Vonage service (doesn’t make sense to pay for DSL & Phone + Vonage.
Posted by Paul at 09:57 Labels: billing, corporations, directv, horror, monopoly, qwest “

Here’s an update…

Saturday, July 26th, 2008 (Yep, 5 months later), I received a letter from West Asset Management, a collections agency, stating they were collecting a debt of $427.52 that I owed Qwest Communications. Funny, I took care of their billing screw up in February, AND I currently have a CREDIT BALANCE of $350 on my Qwest account.
I call the collectors, who tell me it’s from my DirecTV billing thru Qwest, and an early disconnect fee. I tell them the charges are erroneous, if not in fact fraudulent, and that I discussed and corrected this with Qwest in February. They say I am in collection credit status & it will be much easier to resolve if I pay them, or make payment arrangements now. Naturally, I disagree, and am told they will continue calling and attempting to collect the debt. I tell them I don’t accept calls from collectors since they can’t be trusted, I only deal in mail. I will need to put that in writing they say, they can’t take me off call lists (in violation of the Fair Debt Collection practices). I bid them farewell & hang up.

I call Qwest‘s credit Management Center via 1-800-491-0118. Speak to a very nice & helpful lady named Aliya (sp?). Apparently Qwest‘s Treasury dept sent the credit in reverse back in February, doubling what they phantom account said I owed. Nice of them to tell me, or send me a bill. Upshot is… Aliya says she is taking me out of collections, reversing the prior charge, and pushing throught the transfer the way it should have gone the first time. “Since it was our mistake”, she says. Apologies, etc.

Anyhow… if it’s fixed this time, I’ll be happy.

My A1C and Glucose Levels are Down!!!

Yahoo! Just got my blood work results in…

3 months ago:
Non-Fasting Glucose – 270

2 1/2 months ago (started treatment):
Fasting Glucose – 215
A1C – 9.6

Today:
Non-Fasting Glucose – 107
A1C – 6.7

Looks like the combination of Metformin, Lisinopril, modified diet, and exercise (walking 3-4 times per week) are working and my Type II diabetes are “somewhat” managed. Doctor would like my A1C at 6, and Fasting Glucose between 60 and 80, but I’m quite happy with the progress I’ve made in the last couple of months. Additionally, I’ve lost 27 pounds in the last 3 months, and am fitting into clothes I haven’t worn in years.

Eat @ Regular Intervals or Increase Risk of Metabolic Syndrome

Regular Meals Reduce Risk Of Developing Metabolic Syndrome, Study Shows

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet have now, for the first time, showed that the frequency of meals, regardless of their content, affects the chances of developing metabolic syndrome.