Friday Wine Goodness: Olympics edition

Oh yes, I have a blog! Right. Well.

I have not posted in a week, I am aware.  I've thought of a number of titles for posts I could have written this week, and probably should have.  Titles like "There but for the grace of God go I" and The shittiest week, part 2,306", or "What to do when you realize you've stopped coping", or possibly "Depression is not an Attention Disorder".  That third one I didn't post because its more of a question, I don't have that answer. I need that answer.  The last one is aimed directly at the people in my life who say things like, "Well, now that you've decided to tell yourself you're depressed, can't you just tell yourself to get over it and go back to, you know, coping?"

Um, sure.  I'll get right on that.

You know what is not helpful when you've been consistently getting more and more depressed? People who think you're just looking for attention.  People who think you're just looking for an excuse to go see another doctor and spend more money, as if that' s fun for you.  And people who say things like, Hey look! I folded the laundry for you. Because its becoming apparent you're never going to do it. Not helpful.

And while we're ranting just a teensy bit here, you know what else is also not helpful?  Getting help with your depression is fucking expensive. And it does require seeing a doctor, and maybe a therapist, and yes, those things are expensive.  And often not covered, or only covered in certain circumstances. Because that's exactly what you need, more STRESS navigating the layers of hell that is Blue Cross Blue Shield and their we cover this, but not this, unless of course it's because of that, and then we only cover it if it's because of THAT, because if it's because of THIS, sorry, you're screwed.

When you break your arm, you go to the emergency room, and its expensive there, too.  But usually the insurance company in that situation says Oh, no problem!  We can totally take care of that!  Just pay your $50 ER copay and we'll cover the rest maybe 80/20! Unless, you know, you had some kind of weird, new-fangled X-ray done that we didn't previously approve and then, well, sorry, but you should just bend on over, we'll take care of the rest.

By the way, did you know that most psychiatrists don't actually do anything but prescribe drugs anymore?  That really they should just be called psychiatric-pharmacologists?  That they aren't even really trained to do things like TALK TO YOU ABOUT WHAT'S WRONG?

Also, did you know that psychologists, who do talk to you, or rather, let you talk to them and sort out your "issues" are not covered under your insurance usually because they are a PhD and not an MD?  SO basically, drugs are good, therapy is bad.  And if you want both together you better be LOADED.

Do we understand a little more why getting help is not as easy as it should be?

RIGHT. WELL.  I said I wasn't going to talk about that, didn't I?

So, wine.  And the International Soft Porn Competition Olympics. 

Wait, before we get to the wine, can we talk about Michael Phelps for a moment?  No, no, not how awesome of an athlete he is, screw that.  I want to talk about the fact that he wears those swim pant/legging things so low on his hips so that we can not only see his Olympic rings tat but we can also see that point where his happy trail meets his pubic bone.  We can see the top of his butt crack as he's walking away from the camera to go rub himself with a dry towel.  And right now the camera is watching him lay on a table while burly sports massage guys rub him down.  Uh huh. Prime time TV, folks.

Hey Michael?  Put it away, dude.

And don't even get me started on the women's sand volleyball "uniforms".  Good lord.

Okay, wine. 

I don't have a label to show you today, just an interesting story about a little winery overlooking the Olympic Penninsula that received cease and desist letters from the United States Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee, calling her in violation of their trademark.  Story here.  So, according the agreement that it took the winery's owner a year and who knows how much money to come to, she can never distribute outside of her end of the state of Washington.  If you'd like to support her, there's a link on the website where you can buy direct, and have it shipped. Unless, of course, you live here in Kansas.

There's also a fun little thing called the Wine Olympics, and no, it's not about getting drunk on wine and then attempting to perform athletic feats - although that might be fun!  No, it's a wine tasting competition.  And the most famous wine competition of all, of course, happened in 2006, the 30th anniversary of California wines being preferred to French, where blind tasters again preferred California wines to French.  Oui!

But, just because the 2008 Summer Olympics are in China, do not try the Chinese wine.  It needs a little work.