Tracy, California?

[RC Vikings]

It has a lot of wind mills near by. I will never live there.

[statman]

Like any place, Tracy has pluses and minuses. But if you are working anywhere over the hills (meaning on the other side of the Altamont pass) you should consider someplace closer in.

Here is the big question: Where will you be working?

The job would be in Danville/Pleasanton with regular travel up the road to affiliated offices in San Ramon and Walnut Creek. If I were to get/take that job, the plan is not to sell our house here. Buy something cheap there, do a lot of commuting back and forth, as much as possible on the new company's dime - the bank that they lend from is a Utah bank, and I'd need to have regular meetings with the chief risk officer and other compliance officers in Salt Lake (every two weeks is the current schedule). Schedule those for Thursday or Friday, fly back to CA on Monday morning. And the company pays for half my weekends at home.

A California move would be temporary 2 or 3 years, for resume fodder (mostly face-time with FDIC regulators) so I could get a nice cushy banking job back in Utah for the last 15 years of my career.

My selection of Tracy was because it was the first place out from Danville/Pleasanton, and home prices were cheap. If the commute from Tracy in to where I'd be working is that much of a mind-suck, I'd probably end up finding the cheapest apartment near the office and save myself the commute. And I'd get a PS3 and get really good at Call of Duty...

[statman]

where you been Statman?

I've been busy. Very busy.

I've had a whole lot of crap hit the fan in a very short span. My wife had back surgery - it went well, but it's still back surgery. A couple weeks later, our 17 year old got sick and we found out he has type-1 diabetes. Insulin all day every day is his new life. With new drugs, it's much better to get diabetes now than it was 15 years ago, but still, it was a major shock.

Four days after that I was given 120 days notice by my company that my job was moving to NYC. If I wanted to move - with company assistance, but NOT buying our house - I could keep my job (now in NY), otherwise, I was being given notice of termination.

I've been spending every waking moment for the last 10 weeks taking care of things my wife usually does, researching diabetes, insulin pumps and blood sugar monitors, making sure I know the ins-and-outs of COBRA, moving a 401K into an IRA, and applying for lots of long-shot jobs in the SLC area, and a couple good ones elsewhere. Atlanta area is next on the interview list. I should have a yes/no on the California job before I fly there. The Cali job would be good for my career, and it would pay a lot, but the commuting life would just suck. Atlanta would require an actual move. Commuting would be too hard. But again, we don't really want to sell the house here in UT...

And finally, less than a week ago, after my son discovered that while it looked good on paper, attending SLCC to take his prerequisite courses for pharmacy school prior to departing on his mission is not the cheap academic dreamland that one might expect. Because they really don't have big giant lecture halls or TAs like they do at BYU and the U, it's awfully difficult to actually SCHEDULE the prereqs that everyone wants at SLCC. My son promptly gave up his dream of attending 4 semesters at SLCC, and applied to Utah about 2 months after the the 'Fall 2011 admissions deadline.

Last Friday our little boy became a... UTE! Ugh...

[Katy Lied]

The best news of your post: your son found out he is Type I while still on your insurance. Much better than finding out next year when he might have not been covered.

[Tim]

Best of luck to you all around, Statman.

[marsupial]

I'd live in Tracy. In fact, take me with you. PLEASE!

[Babs]

The best news of your post: your son found out he is Type I while still on your insurance. Much better than finding out next year when he might have not been covered.

I thought Congress outlawed most PEC limitations a couple of years ago? That's not to say your rates wouldn't be through the roof, though.

[LA Ute]

If you end up living in Tracy, you might want to get your hospital care in another town. Try Modesto.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Wow Statman. That sounds like a brutal stretch. I hope things work out for you.

[statman]

The best news of your post: your son found out he is Type I while still on your insurance. Much better than finding out next year when he might have not been covered.

You're not kidding! $1400 for his initial setup of all his stuff - 2 types of insulin (both expensive), a stockpile of glucose testing strips for his meter (DAMN those things are expensive! And he's supposed to test 8 times a day!), three glucagon emergency injectors (one that he carries with him, one at home with all the rest of his insulin stuff, and one down in our basement with our food storage), a stockpile of syringes, lancets for his blood meter, etc.

On a month to month basis, we're expecting drugs and supplies it to cost about $550 (for Lantus, Humalog, testing strips, needles for the pens, lancets for the blood sugar testing). BUT - a guy who's a pharmacist at the Utah Diabetes Clinic works part-time at my wife's pharmacy. He told her that once we're off our insurance and starting up on a new one, we should sign-up there immediately. If you're officially a patient there - and not with a spendy endocrinologist - you can buy insulin at about 95% off normal pharmacy costs. Supplies are also much cheaper. They get the insulin for free from the manufacturers and charge only a pharmacy dispensing fee for the drugs, and supplies are highly discounted from suppliers. In total, getting everything from that clinic brings the $550 a month down to under $100. If my insurance changes, there's no question that he'll be heading there for treatment...

And then there's the insulin pump. It's where we REALLY want to have him. The Church wants missionaries to have the pump if at all possible. They're "only" about $6K!

And also regarding missionaries - with a diabetes type-1 diagnosis, you have to PROVE to the Church (and a couple endcrinologists) that you really have your blood sugar levels under control before you can put your papers in. And they won't send you out of the country because they want you to be on your parent's insurance, and most won't cover you outside the country (drugs & supplies are about 60% more then the standard monthly 'cost' of a missionary serving.)

We asked my son if he really wanted to serve a foreign mission. If he does, he could guarantee himself a mission in the 'Vaterland' by using his dual citizenship status to move to Germany, sign himself up as indigent - unemployed and not a student - and get free German health care, including (especially) his insulin & supplies. Then put in his mission papers from there. That would ensure that he'd be going on a German mission.

[TripletDaddy]

statman, good luck to you. sorry to hear about your job but great that you have options right now. hope everything goes well.

[old_gregg]

You're not kidding! $1400 for his initial setup of all his stuff - 2 types of insulin (both expensive), a stockpile of glucose testing strips for his meter (DAMN those things are expensive! And he's supposed to test 8 times a day!), three glucagon emergency injectors (one that he carries with him, one at home with all the rest of his insulin stuff, and one down in our basement with our food storage), a stockpile of syringes, lancets for his blood meter, etc.

On a month to month basis, we're expecting drugs and supplies it to cost about $550 (for Lantus, Humalog, testing strips, needles for the pens, lancets for the blood sugar testing). BUT - a guy who's a pharmacist at the Utah Diabetes Clinic works part-time at my wife's pharmacy. He told her that once we're off our insurance and starting up on a new one, we should sign-up there immediately. If you're officially a patient there - and not with a spendy endocrinologist - you can buy insulin at about 95% off normal pharmacy costs. Supplies are also much cheaper. They get the insulin for free from the manufacturers and charge only a pharmacy dispensing fee for the drugs, and supplies are highly discounted from suppliers. In total, getting everything from that clinic brings the $550 a month down to under $100. If my insurance changes, there's no question that he'll be heading there for treatment...

And then there's the insulin pump. It's where we REALLY want to have him. The Church wants missionaries to have the pump if at all possible. They're "only" about $6K!

And also regarding missionaries - with a diabetes type-1 diagnosis, you have to PROVE to the Church (and a couple endcrinologists) that you really have your blood sugar levels under control before you can put your papers in. And they won't send you out of the country because they want you to be on your parent's insurance, and most won't cover you outside the country (drugs & supplies are about 60% more then the standard monthly 'cost' of a missionary serving.)

We asked my son if he really wanted to serve a foreign mission. If he does, he could guarantee himself a mission in the 'Vaterland' by using his dual citizenship status to move to Germany, sign himself up as indigent - unemployed and not a student - and get free German health care, including (especially) his insulin & supplies. Then put in his mission papers from there. That would ensure that he'd be going on a German mission.

it's really sick how expensive diabetes supplies are. getting him stabilized on what insulins he likes and getting his a1c down will help with the costs. through different insurance policies, i don't think i've paid more than $70 a month on prescriptions per month ever. as soon as you're not on cobra, it should all work out well.

we were in mexico last week, and i brought three novolog pens (great alternative to the pump) with me. one ran out, and i wanted to have another backup just in case. when we hit puerto vallarta, we went straight to the walmart there and asked the pharmacy if they had novolog or even humalog (functionally the same thing, as you know). when she rang it up it showed as $150 on the register, and i half-groaned but i had expected to pay that based on u.s. prices. she then informed me that was pesos, and i had a new pen for less than $15.

by the way, if he's not on lantus (which if he went to primary children's and the diabetes clinic he probably is) make sure he tries it. that has been really a fantastic development in insulin. i also think the pump is overrated and i used a minimed, but it's also up to him.

[BigPiney]

I'd go for Manteca.

Those waterslides were awesome in the day.

Tracy kinda sucks, imo, but if that is what you can afford...

Manteca sucks more.

[Non Sequitur]

I have great memories of Tracy. It's near the Delta, which is where we always went water-skiing when I was a kid. The channels were narrow and shallow -- we busted more than one prop -- but it was the smoothest water ever.

[cougjunkie]

Those waterslides were awesome in the day.

Tracy kinda sucks, imo, but if that is what you can afford...

Manteca sucks more.

We went to the Manteca waterslides all the time growing up.

Soccermom comparing Tracy to Spanish Fork is like comparing a 3rd world country to the Celestial Kingdom.