Interesting day yesterday!

In the morning I received a call from a bill collector about a $443 x-ray bill from last year. I told her I had Medicare and back up insurance. My bills were covered one hundred cents on the dollar. Resubmit. No, she would not. She told me it was my responsibility to call Medicare, who had rejected the claim and straighten it out.

I dreaded calling Medicare. An almost impossible telephone system.

But I did.

After 3 hours, 6 different 800 numbers and 9 bodies, the problem was resolved. Medicare had screwed up. The bill would be paid.

What an ordeal! I feel sorry for the many people who have to go through this bureaucratic system on a frequent basis.

There is a positive side, however. If you hang in there and press all the correct buttons, your problem will receive attention. But oh soooooooo long!

Terri White! Former Broadway star extrodinaire! Now a Key West resident. Back on Broadway this week. She opens in a revival of Finian’s Rainbow Saturday night.

Terri has a distinguished background. She was a Tony nominee for her performance in Barnum. Won an Obie for her work with Tommy Tune in another show. A singer and hoofer, she has brought pleasure and joy to many over the years.

You can see Terri in rehearsal for Saturday’s opening! www.Broadway.com. Go to the second page and click REHEARSAL. Up comes a 3-4 minute video of Finian’s Rainbow. And a minute into it, there is Terri singing Necessity and dancing!

My poor daughter Lisa is sick. She has been pale and under the weather for 2 weeks. She finally saw a doctor yesterday morning. Walking pneumonia. She was home yesterday. I spent a bit of time with her. Hope she spends a few more days home.

I had a business lunch scheduled with a charming young lady from the cruise line world. It was cancelled. To my disappointment.

So I lunched alone at the bar at the Yacht Club and read the newspapers. Relaxing. Pleasurable.

Then it was across the street to Borders. I am a freeloader when it comes to books. I sit in Borders and read book after book. I am presently into one about the 3 years immediately before World War II. Insightful!

My dinner appointment last night with lady #2 was kept as scheduled. Another business conference. But in a great setting.

We had dinner at La Te DA. Duck, of course. Terrific! Alice is cooking again!

Bobby Nesbitt and Bruce Moore have returned from their most recent gig on a cruise ship in the South Pacific. Tahiti, Bora Bora and New Zealand. They performed a Broadway tunes show last night upstairs at La Te Da. I caught the show.

These guys are great alone! Spectacular together! See one of their shows if you have the opportunity.

Tom Oosterhoudt publishes a local weekly newspaper. It is called Conch Color. A series of bright photographs showing every aspect of Key West life. It’s a winner! One of the best local publications on the island.

The Truman White House has recently undergone major renovation. To restore it as it was when President Truman spent 175 days of his Presidency here in Key West and lived in the home now called the Truman White House.

The newly restored Truman White House will be dedicated I believe in May. Efforts are being made to have President Obama attend.

Oosterhoudt (I wish he had a shorter name) editorialized about Truman and the restoration in this weeks’s edition of Conch Color. As you will recall, I am a big fan of President Truman. One of our best Presidents from my perspective! And someone that my path in life briefly crossed with three times, as detailed in an earlier blog.

In one papragraph, Oosterhoudt described some of Truman’s succcesses. Some of which took place while he was here in Key West.

I could not do better than Oosterhoudt in describing those instances. So I am going to quote directly out of Osterhoudt’s editorial.

“…Truman signed the United Nations charter in 1945. He ended World War II by dropping the atomic bomb the same year. In 1947 he created the “Truman Doctrine” and dedicated the Everglades National Park. He was the first to recognize the state of Israel in 1948, giving it international credence. That same year, he desegregated the military and Federal government in so many ways giving birth to the civil rights movement. In 1949, Truman created NATO. If his desk at the Little White House could talk, would it have some stories to tell! In 1951, at that very desk, Truman signed the order to fire Gen. Douglas MacArthur.”

A wow!

This morning golf! I can’t wait to humble myself again! Some day…..just once…..Lord, please give me a good round!