remember
Who doesn't?
I decided that this would be a good time to visit the 9/11 Memorial at Eagle Rock Reservation. I was out that way for a doctor’s appointment today and I had hoped to get out of there and get home earlier, but it didn’t work out that way, so I figured that there was no harm in a side trip since my schedule was blown anyway. I was finishing up my appointment and figuring that I was going to make a quick exit when the doctor informed me that she was taking me to see her personal assistant who would explain their new “portal” system to me and help me register. Oh...just great! I don’t even like the sound of the word “portal”. Come to find out, today is “day one” of the introduction of the portal system which will allow you to get in touch with the doctor directly (which may be a good thing, because there has NEVER been a time when I have called that office and have NOT gotten the recording from the assistant that she is “away from her desk... blah blah blah” and I play phone tag with her for the rest of the week.) I also learn that I am “Victim #4” of the portal system explanation. I have turned my cell phone off and she tells me to go ahead and turn it on because she has to send me an email with the link that I need to register. I ask her if she wants me to sit there and register right now, and she thinks that is a great idea because this way she will get to see how it all works. Ut oh... this alerts me to the fact that victims #1-3 somehow managed to escape and I become the guinea pig. Ok, turn it on, receive the email with the link, open the link and she tells me to fill in the name and birth date and not to worry about filling in the insurance information. The insurance information is already filled in, which tips me off to the fact that she has never seen what is in this link and I wonder why if all the insurance info is there, why isn’t the name and birth date there also, But I don’t ask. Next it tells me to pick a username. I ask her if it has to be a certain number of letters.... she doesn’t know. So I pick a username and then a password.... which takes me for.ev.er. because I don’t seem to be capable of typing it in the same way twice.... I blame it on the site... she doesn’t know, she’s never seen it! So, finally I get the password in there, the same way, twice... and a warning comes up.... Username must be between 8 and 75 letters. 75 LETTERS?!! Who picks a username with 75 letters??!! So, I relay this info to her and she writes it down. So, I pick a new username. I’m in. Now she tells me that she has to send me a message through the portal and I have to respond to it and then we are done. She sends the message, I get an email telling me I have a message and a link to log in. I open the link and I can’t log in. This goes on for quite awhile until I remember that I had to change my original username. (I don’t tell her this! Again, she assumes it is a problem with the site!) So, now I am logged in and it tells me I have a message, but I can’t open it, and I ask where I am supposed to go to respond to it. She doesn’t know. So, she calls the doctor in, who also doesn’t know. So, I figure out where to go to respond and there is a drop down menu and I ask which selection I am supposed to choose. She doesn’t know, and the doctor doesn’t know. So, they decide that they will call in another doctor that has successfully navigated this portal system. So, this is where it becomes satisfying (and somewhat comical) to me....I (read that in bold large type!!) am now monopolizing the time of two prominent specialists and their personal assistant ... hehehe.... and they can’t charge me for their time (and I should be charging them for mine!!) The second doctor takes my cell phone and finishes the process (she may have figured out that it is I, that am the problem with the portal system!) . “This is a test message” Message received. “Thank you.” Message sent. Done. So, I now ask what she thinks will happen to victims #1-3 (without actually calling them victims), so we review the entire procedure while she writes it all down and says she will send emails out to them with the instructions. Truthfully, I’m pretty sure that victims #1-3 will do just fine on their own, because they probably are able to type their password in twice consecutively for verification purposes and were also probably able to recall the 75 letter username that they selected. But if I had to be there longer than I wanted to, I was going to have some fun, and as I left the personal assistant thanked me numerous times for my time, my patience and for helping her figure all of this out. And I never once mentioned that it was my screw ups that made it so difficult to begin with. (do you think she knew that all along?) And when the time comes that I need to access this doctor via the portal system, what are the chances that I will remember my username and/or password? That’s right.... slim to none!!!
Anyway.... next stop 9/11 Memorial at Eagle Rock Reservation West Orange, NJ
A beautiful memorial... marble wall with engraved names overlooking the Manhattan skyline, along with bronze statues, pieces of steel and concrete from the foundation of the Twin Towers, and numerous plaques.
remember
Who doesn't?
I decided that this would be a good time to visit the 9/11 Memorial at Eagle Rock Reservation. I was out that way for a doctor’s appointment today and I had hoped to get out of there and get home earlier, but it didn’t work out that way, so I figured that there was no harm in a side trip since my schedule was blown anyway. I was finishing up my appointment and figuring that I was going to make a quick exit when the doctor informed me that she was taking me to see her personal assistant who would explain their new “portal” system to me and help me register. Oh...just great! I don’t even like the sound of the word “portal”. Come to find out, today is “day one” of the introduction of the portal system which will allow you to get in touch with the doctor directly (which may be a good thing, because there has NEVER been a time when I have called that office and have NOT gotten the recording from the assistant that she is “away from her desk... blah blah blah” and I play phone tag with her for the rest of the week.) I also learn that I am “Victim #4” of the portal system explanation. I have turned my cell phone off and she tells me to go ahead and turn it on because she has to send me an email with the link that I need to register. I ask her if she wants me to sit there and register right now, and she thinks that is a great idea because this way she will get to see how it all works. Ut oh... this alerts me to the fact that victims #1-3 somehow managed to escape and I become the guinea pig. Ok, turn it on, receive the email with the link, open the link and she tells me to fill in the name and birth date and not to worry about filling in the insurance information. The insurance information is already filled in, which tips me off to the fact that she has never seen what is in this link and I wonder why if all the insurance info is there, why isn’t the name and birth date there also, But I don’t ask. Next it tells me to pick a username. I ask her if it has to be a certain number of letters.... she doesn’t know. So I pick a username and then a password.... which takes me for.ev.er. because I don’t seem to be capable of typing it in the same way twice.... I blame it on the site... she doesn’t know, she’s never seen it! So, finally I get the password in there, the same way, twice... and a warning comes up.... Username must be between 8 and 75 letters. 75 LETTERS?!! Who picks a username with 75 letters??!! So, I relay this info to her and she writes it down. So, I pick a new username. I’m in. Now she tells me that she has to send me a message through the portal and I have to respond to it and then we are done. She sends the message, I get an email telling me I have a message and a link to log in. I open the link and I can’t log in. This goes on for quite awhile until I remember that I had to change my original username. (I don’t tell her this! Again, she assumes it is a problem with the site!) So, now I am logged in and it tells me I have a message, but I can’t open it, and I ask where I am supposed to go to respond to it. She doesn’t know. So, she calls the doctor in, who also doesn’t know. So, I figure out where to go to respond and there is a drop down menu and I ask which selection I am supposed to choose. She doesn’t know, and the doctor doesn’t know. So, they decide that they will call in another doctor that has successfully navigated this portal system. So, this is where it becomes satisfying (and somewhat comical) to me....I (read that in bold large type!!) am now monopolizing the time of two prominent specialists and their personal assistant ... hehehe.... and they can’t charge me for their time (and I should be charging them for mine!!) The second doctor takes my cell phone and finishes the process (she may have figured out that it is I, that am the problem with the portal system!) . “This is a test message” Message received. “Thank you.” Message sent. Done. So, I now ask what she thinks will happen to victims #1-3 (without actually calling them victims), so we review the entire procedure while she writes it all down and says she will send emails out to them with the instructions. Truthfully, I’m pretty sure that victims #1-3 will do just fine on their own, because they probably are able to type their password in twice consecutively for verification purposes and were also probably able to recall the 75 letter username that they selected. But if I had to be there longer than I wanted to, I was going to have some fun, and as I left the personal assistant thanked me numerous times for my time, my patience and for helping her figure all of this out. And I never once mentioned that it was my screw ups that made it so difficult to begin with. (do you think she knew that all along?) And when the time comes that I need to access this doctor via the portal system, what are the chances that I will remember my username and/or password? That’s right.... slim to none!!!
Anyway.... next stop 9/11 Memorial at Eagle Rock Reservation West Orange, NJ
A beautiful memorial... marble wall with engraved names overlooking the Manhattan skyline, along with bronze statues, pieces of steel and concrete from the foundation of the Twin Towers, and numerous plaques.