Day: March 27, 2024

Answer Me This — Higher Education

Fandango4 Comments

Suze, over at Obsolete Childhood has introduced a new prompt called “Answer Me This.” Suze says it’s “an alternative daily prompt” to the WordPress Daily Prompt, which she characterized as “ones that totally suck and are focused upon the young people here.

Anyway, her prompt question today is this:

What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made? (Could be an investment of money, time, energy, etc.)

I had graduated from college with a business degree in economics, I had served my time in the military, I had gotten a job as a management trainee with an insurance company, and I was floundering when it came to figuring out what I wanted to do with my life.

The insurance company I worked for was in the health insurance arena and I quickly became frustrated with how poorly its systems were with respect to the processing of claims submitted for reimbursement. I decided that I needed to educate myself in both systems development and healthcare administration.

It so happened that I was living in Washington, D.C. at the time and the George Washington University offered a master’s degree program in healthcare administration as well as a number of classes in systems development. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to not work, but fortunately most of the courses I needed for my graduate degree were offered at night.

So I put aside most of my social life — well, not all of it, I was in my early twenties for crissake — and split the bulk of my time between work and school. It was an investment of two-and-a-half years of my life.

But the good news was that my timing couldn’t have been more perfect. It was at a time when healthcare insurance companies were making heavy investments in automating their benefits administration systems and when many large employers were looking at moving their benefits administration functionality in-house.

I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, when my expertise in systems and healthcare became a very marketable commodity, which allowed me to make a good living over 45 years and positioned me to be able to retire at the end of 2016 without and significant financial insecurities

So to answer Suze’s question, the time and effort I put into obtaining my graduate degree turned out to be a very worthwhile investment.

And should anyone be curious about today’s WordPress Daily Prompt, which asked, “What’s something most people don’t understand?” here is how I answered it when it was first asked on March 30th of last year.

Simply 6 Minutes — The Dollar Store

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“My god, Bart, where did you buy these chairs?” Dennis asks as his chair collapsed with him in and toppled backwards after he sat down.

“I bought them at The Dollar Store,” Bart said. “I got a great deal on them. Then his chair toppled backwards, just like Dennis’ did.

Jeff, who was sitting in the third chair, was laughing hysterically while pointing at Dennis and Bart all akimbo on their backs in the sand. Then Jeff’s chair fell backwards and he, too, was all splayed out on his back. “Sheesh, we shoulda known you’d try to save a few bucks to get the cheapest piece of crap folding chairs you could find. What were you thinking, dude?”

Bart was on his back, laughing. “I was just trying to save us money, guys. But look at this way, nobody got hurt and we’re going to remember this moment for the rest of our lives.”

Written for Christine Bialczak’s Simply 6 Minutes Challenge. Image credit: LOTHAR KNOPP/GETTY IMAGES.

P.S. I have never set foot in a Dollar Store and for all I know, that store may have quality products for the money.

One-Liner Wednesday — The Ten Commandments

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“The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse: You cannot post ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery,’ and ‘Thou shalt not lie’ in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians because that would create a hostile work environment.”

George Carlin, American comedian, actor, author, and social critic

Written for Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt.

MFFFC — Besties

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“Diane, you have been such a wonderful friend to me over the past month. When I found out about Richard and his infidelities I was beside myself. I was even thinking about offing myself. But you came to my rescue, you saved me and I am so indebted to you,” Ellen said as she and Diane were sitting in the back of Diane’s car with the hatchback open. “This cross-country road trip has been such a blessing and I simply can’t thank you enough for suggesting it.”

“Ellen, we’ve been besties ever since I can remember,” Diane said, “and you know I’ll always be by your side. I’ve been where you’ve been when Alan ghosted me last summer, so I know what you’re going through and I’m going to make sure neither of us will ever have to go through shit like this again.”

“You are a godsend, Diane,” Ellen said, reaching over and hugging Diane. “So what’s our next stop on this road trip?”

“We are going to head over to the Grand Canyon,” Diane said. “It’s incredible.”

“I’m so excited!” Ellen said. “I’ve never been there but I have seen photos of it. I can’t wait to see it in person.”

“You will love it, Ellen,” Diane said. “And once there I know we’re going to be BFFs, and I do mean that literally. It’s going to be spectacular when we do our Thelma and Louise drive.”

Ellen’s head snapped toward Diane’s. “Wait! What?” she said.

Written for Melissa’s Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge. Image credit: Richard Jaimes on Unsplash.

Answer Me This — Twin Towers

Fandango9 Comments

Suze, over at Obsolete Childhood has introduced a new prompt called “Answer Me This.” Suze says it’s “an alternative daily prompt” to the WordPress Daily Prompt, which she characterized as “ones that totally suck and are focused upon the young people here.

Anyway, her prompt question is this:

What were you doing when you first heard about the attack on the Twin Towers in NYC and how did your daily routine change (if at all) as a result of the news?

I was in Merrimack, New Hampshire sitting at my desk at work when Phil, one of my co-workers, ran into my office. “A plane just flew into one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York,” he said.

We ran together to the company cafeteria where a small group of people had already started to gather in front of the TV mounted on one of the walls. Phil and I got there just as a second plane flew into the other tower.

More and more employees came into the large room and gazed fixedly at the television screen. Some stood around the TV, some sat down at the cafeteria tables. All were mesmerized and horrified by what we were seeing and hearing.

No one was speaking. Everyone in that cafeteria was shocked into a frozen silence. The only sounds that could be heard were those coming from the TV and the sniffling coming from those watching, as most of us were crying. Even I, a typically stoic, unemotional man, was crying.

I spent a lot of time that day — and much of that week — crying. And being angry. Very angry.

It was a day that changed everything.