Won't4GetUNotes

I tried to log into the UnitedHealthCare website when I got my member card in the mail on Friday (note: Friday was December 31st). Nothing worked. I got irritated. Then decided to give the company a break because I knew that my account wouldn’t be active – or accessible – until the turn of the year. So I waited.

A couple days later, I got an email asking me to join their fitness or some kind of wellness tracking program. Tracking being the key here. They all want to track you and you’ll give them your data in exchange for a couple hundred bucks.

But the topic of tracking is a tangent and I’m not going there right now. I’m still hung up on the basic usability – or lack thereof – of the online tools provided by a multi-billion dollar company. Even the usability of the email sucked. But that didn’t prevent me from trying to click on something to get into the details of my health insurance coverage.

The fact that I couldn’t log in on 12/31 wasn’t shocking to me. It’s sad that not one person thought to provide log in access to the site prior to the changing of the calendar but I knew that was why I couldn’t log in so I decided to try again during the morning on the 4th of January.

My coverage is supposed to be active now. Plus, I’d just received an email with the following subject line: Ready for an easier way to access your health plan details?

Yes! I’m ready for an easier way to access my health plan details. I clicked on the logo thinking it’d take me to the website. It did not. Then I clicked on a link called see what’s covered.

Was I able to log into the website?

No.

So I decided I’d reset my password. Being human, I thought it was my error, and I decided I’d try to fix that before getting even more irritated. Password reset. Easy enough, right?

No.

After entering my username and password, I waited and when I saw the screen flicker I thought, phew, finally. Then, nothing.

When I say nothing I mean nothing loaded on the screen except for a chatbot type image at the bottom right side of the screen and a feedback widget at the bottom left. (Yes, I clicked the red sad face and gave them feedback.)

Once again, I thought, welp, I’m using Firefox, it’s my issue. I’ll try Safari (yes, I’m using a Mac).

The same thing occurred there. I suspected it has something to do with my account. If I had UHC coverage in the past, it’s likely that – even though the coverage is inactive – it’s still associated with the username I’ve been trying to use as my login credentials. Should that be my problem? No. But it is.

This is when the rant starts…it’s not too bad today. But it’s still a rant.

This is not a rhetorical question: How is it that a company that’s gathering up billions in profit on a quarterly basis can’t actually check (it’s a basic function called Quality Assurance or Quality Control) to make sure issues like this don’t happen on a regular basis? It’s supposed to be a basic business function. After all, we’re in 2022 and this stuff has been around for decades.

Every day I encounter broken stuff, unusable stuff, poorly designed and horribly implemented stuff on every device. All the crap we’re saddled with. The things that are supposed to make life easier. Well that ship has sailed. Not much is easy when it comes to being a human who is trying to use the tech and services that surround most of us.

I’ve posted stuff like this into the interwebs in the past. Some folks call me negative but if I’m frustrated, how do people two decades older deal? I – for better or worse – understand the complexity of what’s going on behind the scenes so I have more patience and tolerance for this kind of stuff but I’m done simply grabbing screen shots that never go beyond my devices.

Maybe shame is what companies need but even then, I’m not confident that they will care at all. Even money doesn’t shame them. Fines, fees, legal settlements are all the cost of doing business. Customer experience? Not all that important as long as the shareholders are satisfied.

Cat juggling – not literally – has been a lot these past few weeks. Mine is back. Swapped out for Deano who is hopefully gonna settle in and just be a kitty.

Christmas is basically cancelled as far as I’m concerned. So much highly transmissible virus – yes, another variant – even more contagious than the last. No surprise. Just disappointment in humanity – or lack thereof.

So for now, it’s cozy with cat company and that’s ok.

How does a dirty plastic cup end up in a bush? There’s so much trash everywhere. It’s hard to keep up. From cigarette butts to mail to plastic thingys. I read the saddest article this morning about the amount of plastic. It’s hard to fathom how humans get themselves out of this mess since we’re the ones who created it.

The nurdles are beyond terrible. This Washington Post article is what I read earlier today. It’s sad so if you click through the link, be prepared to get depressed.

More about nurdles in Sri Lanka.

If there’s anyone who deserves to be brought back as a well-cared for (ahem, spoiled!) kitty…you know who you are.

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood. I wonder if the angle of the sun is what makes the water sparkle.

If the doors of perception were open, everything would appear as if is: infinite.

William Blake (via Dad)

I really liked the therapist I saw for a bit when I was falling apart in Indy. There was one thing that rubbed me the wrong way. She said I made this place sound like Shangri-La. Her tone had a touch of condescension or maybe she was genuinely concerned I was putting all my happy eggs in one basket.

If it’s the place where I’m most content, why not call it Shangri-La? I don’t believe there is such a place. Nothing is perfect. Nowhere is utopia. But when you can walk your neighborhood and come home with fresh-off-the-tree oranges, it is quite nourishing.

Late fall roses and lavender make it that much sweeter. No matter how lonely I might feel right now, all of this keeps me good company although, if living in snowy cold winter would bring you and CT back, that’s a deal I’d be willing to make.

What the hell is going on with these orgs? So much trash. Why do you – Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy – have to send all this stuff? Is this really working?! Can’t imagine it’s good for anything. If it’s good for fundraising isn’t it sending the wrong message? Do you really make money from all these piles of crap? I don’t need planners, calendars, maps and stickers. I also won’t give you another dime as long as you’re using these old, harmful marcom practices.

Weighing heavily on my mind. Maybe it’s the time of year. In 2019 I drove from Indy to SB, man do I regret not stopping in Joplin. Never thought I’d say those words. Miss you so much.

A perfectly Santa Barbara day with my two original people (yes, parents). Saturday market, a clear view of the islands, birds and the bittersweet of big, majesty cats at the zoo. Don’t need to wait for a vacancy, for things to be gone, to add a little note and a glimpse. Back to basic ole blogging. Soon I’ll go find a plug in so you can subscribe for updates. Until then. Dropping this into and onto the energy of things.

It bothers me – really fucking bothers me – that org’s like Sierra Club send all this crap in the mail. I have a huge issue with it because it’s old thinking. These mailers have been landing in my recycling bin for decades.

Is this the best way to reach people? Does anyone read these letters? Plus, the energy required to go from the concept to my mailbox has a price tag in so many ways other than hard dollars. Why would an organization dedicated to preserving some of our remaining resources show such blatant disregard for those same resources?

I know you’d agree – all y’all out there – that there is no good reason to keep putting all this shit out into our already suffocating world. If there’s ever an obituary for earth, the cause of death should definitely include: Sierra Club mailings.

Oh and those fucking ASPCA envelopes with the return address stickers. I think The Nature Conservancy sends them, too. No. We don’t need more of them and they don’t seem to make me wanna send donations. Who is swayed to become a card carrying member of any of these orgs? I’m genuinely curious about the return. Do a mailing, get a flood of new members? Inquiring minds wanna know.

But too early to be this dark.

A hummingbird just hovered right in front of me. Hello. Thanks for visiting.

I watched a crow just now hovering around a palm and had a feeling based on the chirps it was bothering a hawk. I was about to try and record with my iPhone but decided to watch with my eyes instead.

Crow flew off, then one hawk appeared. And then two others floated from the palm. All three circled each other for a second or two. One glided off into the distance, I watched until it was out of view, waiting for it to flap but it didn’t. The other two went off in the opposite direction.

You would have appreciated it. Simple. Birds. Beautiful.