Running Bear's September 2026 Coffee Shop

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Got the labs done and was going to stop at Mickey D's but the line was too long, so I got my commissary run done. All the meat had a sell by date of today, so I thought I was SOL, but then the meat guy came out and brought some fresher stuff out. Wasn't planning on it, but a nice, meaty piece of pork belly walked across my path, so I got it.

Made it back without incident, but the idiots were out in force, in the rain.

Japan has started a new "rule" (law? I don't think they know what that is), in that you speed in residential area, which has a limit of 30 km/h, and you get 6 points. The maximum you can get on your license before it flies away, is a magical 6 points. I really hope they enforce it.
 


Kusojiji said:
I should have asked for a test for prostate while at it, but that thought came after.
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My friend, you have strange tastes in entertainment.
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Rain rain go away
Come back when we have a forest fire and people are running around trying to get away and the emergency centers are full and the emergency services are fully engaged with firetrucks and aerial firefighting on some other day

Got 37 mm in 24 hours. Car got jet blasted on the toll road, so don't have to wash it now.
 
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Well, howdy there internet peeps, and those with big buns, cinnammon or otherwise

It's Troy again.

Not the VET.jpg


That will be Lord Fuzzbutt's fate in a few hours. But he doesn't know it yet.
In the meantime, his food dish has been empty since 9p last night. He's been very very very cuddly and full of purrs in a pathetic attempt to get food.

Seems he is getting his teeth cleaned today, and at least one extraction. Poor Poody-tat!

In other news, the wife had a down day yesterday. We think it's her methotrexate (for arthritis) causing nausea. But it hits at different times each week. She takes the weekly dose on Friday nights. So she got hit on Thurs. The week before it was on Monday.

I had a decent day since the pain pills kicked in. Not able to stand long. Maybe 45 seconds before the pain starts. Took three days to get the corporate overlords at BCBS insurance to decide I could have another round of muscle relaxers (Methocarbamol). The PA who prescribed them is having me slow down on them, but gave me another month.

No word yet o the MRI. I think it says something about the state of the US Insurance industry when Imaging centers are actively advertising
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I asked AI about this trend: Have these centers been around long? Have then grown in number in recent years? Here's what Claude said:
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Short answer: they've been around for a couple decades, but they've genuinely expanded a lot in recent years, driven by a few converging trends.

Origins: Standalone, cash-pay-friendly imaging centers (as distinct from hospital-based imaging) started appearing more widely in the 1990s-2000s as freestanding outpatient imaging grew as a category generally — cheaper equipment, less overhead than a hospital, and MRI/CT technology becoming common enough to deploy outside hospital walls.

Why they've grown more recently — a few real forces at play:
  • High-deductible health plans becoming common — the proliferation of high-deductible health plans has pushed more patients to consider cash-pay options, since with these plans patients must cover substantial out-of-pocket costs before insurance coverage kicks in, and many find it more cost-effective to pay cash for routine or minor services instead of navigating insurance claims.
  • Broader shift of imaging out of hospitals generally — about 40% of all radiology volume is now performed in outpatient imaging centers or clinics rather than in acute-care hospitals, part of a broad shift in volumes from hospital settings to outpatient centers, with outpatient imaging growth now outpacing the overall radiology market. More freestanding centers overall naturally means more competing on price, including cash pricing.
  • Providers actively pitching cash-pay as an alternative to denied claims — this is described as an increasing trend that providers are having to institutionalize, with expected accelerating growth, as more patients face denials or high deductibles that make a discounted cash-pay option more attractive than going through insurance — which is essentially the exact situation you're in with Direct Imaging.
  • Price transparency pressure — increasing public and regulatory focus on making healthcare costs visible has helped normalize and popularize the cash-pay comparison-shopping behavior you did yourself with Direct Imaging.
So: not a brand-new phenomenon, but a genuinely accelerating one over roughly the last 10-15 years, and especially picking up pace very recently — you're part of a pretty mainstream and growing pattern, not doing anything unusual by comparing cash-pay imaging against your insurance-routed options.
 
santafewillie said:
I believe that folks have just not been stopping by rather than put up with the error messages and slow response times. A couple of days ago, I gave up until the next morning.
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I believe your right. I have noticed that at times when I come here during the day I'm the only member online.

It was never like that in the past. There were always several members online. Probably why there is little new content on the
general forum.
 


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