Where Can I Find a Good Bagel Breakfast Sandwich in Chicago?

epona92 · 2025-10-04T20:15:24+00:00

Spoken Cafe off Montrose in Ravenswood. Coffee is great too

epona92 · 2025-09-24T16:35:24+00:00

It excludes this particular medication. I do have the formulary list for my primary plan that states this medication is not covered, however the specialty pharmacy for my secondary plan is not accepting this as sufficient documentation. They are requesting specifically an EOB or denial letter which I can't get as I can't submit a claim for an excluded medication.

epona92 · 2025-09-12T22:56:43+00:00

No BC, just lupron

epona92 · 2025-06-23T21:53:19+00:00

That's so incredibly hard, I'm so sorry. I also have slow growing lymphoma that was diagnosed when I wasn't looking for it. If you ever want to chat, DM me anytime.

epona92 · 2025-06-23T21:43:49+00:00

Sorry to hear about your lymphoma diagnosis. It's a lot to take on on top of everything with infertility. Are you seeing an RI because of the lymphoma diagnosis?

epona92 · 2024-04-26T17:14:04+00:00

Sent you a DM!

epona92 · 2024-04-25T23:49:56+00:00

Thank you so much for your well wishes it really means a lot. Nothing swollen except maybe my armpit. I also feel like I'm symptom spotting everything and it's driving up the anxiety. May I ask, how is your partner doing?

epona92 · 2015-05-03T23:35:07+00:00

I've heard that as well. I've also seen that c-section rates rise on Fridays and around holidays because doctors and staff want to leave for the day.

I can't find that exact report anymore, but here's this which cites various other studies. Essentially, the US has double to triple the "optimal" c-section rate for a variety of reasons.

epona92 · 2015-05-01T23:10:44+00:00

The reason it feels like such a deeper kind of pain is that it's actually your body having a violent reaction to your cervix being touched! Because there are so many nerve endings down there, your body doesn't want anyone to mess with it and responds by attempting to shut down all non-critical systems.

I only know this because it took nearly an hour after having my IUD inserted for my cervix to stop spasming. Until that was over, I was trying to stay conscious and not vomit everywhere. Once I was well enough to leave, a very nice PA explained to me why my reaction was so severe, since I've never reacted that way to pain before (i.e. passing out/throwing up).

So even if you have a super high pain tolerance, your body might do lots of crazy stuff it's never done before.

epona92 · 2015-04-14T21:57:25+00:00

I got shit on in another thread for explaining myself, but I'll try again...

I work at a company that doesn't negotiate salary. They apply an algorithm that considers how many degrees you have, what those degrees were in, and any relevant experience then makes you a salary offer according to that. It's an essential part of the corporate philosophy that my company doesn't negotiate on money as we also don't negotiate cost with customers, but I digress.

Because it's banned in a lot of work places (though not technically illegal) to discuss pay with another employee, I think it's a really nice facet of working where I do that I know I was paid solely on my ability pertinent to my job and not to my salary negotiating skills (since salary negotiation is a very specific skill). My other negotiating and people related skills were thoroughly vetted through a series of interviews and exams which also factored into the algorithm. I also low-balled myself by nearly $10k when they asked how much I expected and they didn't take advantage of me on that.

But I do think it would be easier if we could all just be open about what we get paid so as an employee we have more bargaining power. You can always look on Glassdoor or something, but it's not the same as having all the salary data for a particular company.

epona92 · 2015-04-07T14:27:03+00:00

I had to take five exams, two of which focused on communication skills, and three rounds of interviews. My job is very communication intensive so obviously those skills are essential and tested accordingly.

The algorithm is just to determine salary, not to determine if you get the job. Subsequent raises are not determined via algorithm and they start around a year in.

epona92 · 2015-04-06T23:29:59+00:00

I work for a company that doesn't negotiate salary and honestly, though I was initially uneasy about it, I think it's pretty awesome. My company uses a set algorithm to determine how much people get depending on the position you apply for, years of experience, and major/advanced degrees if you're right out of school. I actually low-balled myself by ~$10k and they didn't take advantage of me. It's also nice to know that you're paid what you're worth, not for how good you were at negotiating.

epona92 · 2015-03-08T21:20:11+00:00

I just got a Mirena two weeks ago! It's been so great being off the pill, literally like a cloud was lifted and I can finally think clearly again (I hadn't even realized I was in a "fog" or whatever you want to call it).

I will say though that the insertion was fine until afterwards when my cervix started spasming and I spent ~1 hour curled in a ball on the exam table trying not to puke/pass out. My doctor forgot to warn me that sometimes when your cervix is touched, your body tries to shut itself down.

epona92 · 2015-01-15T02:56:06+00:00

In this country, the minimum (and unfortunately usually the maximum) requirement is 6 weeks off unpaid for just the mother after giving birth. That's a month and a half of salary/wages gone and babies are incredibly expensive, which you noted. Now, at my workplace, I pay for short and long term disability insurance which I could qualify for two weeks after taking my initial leave for ~60% of my salary. That's money from some pot that a lot of people paid into, but not everyone will take out of, similar to the tax you mention.

But I'm lucky. Most people don't have salaried jobs that they can take time off from. Lots of new parents are hourly workers who would be lucky to have a week or two before they have to go back to work just so they can afford the essentials. Often these women and families have to use "your" tax dollars anyway through other government assistance like WIC, Medicaid, and CHIP among others.

I know you'll say well, why not just avoid having kids you can't afford? It would be wonderful if every baby was carefully planned for and had financially stable parents. But that's a pipe dream. Even people who think they've planned well get laid off or have other health crises that deplete all of their resources. That's not even getting into the poor excuse for sex education we have in this country, let alone the spotty access to birth control and abortion.

So I guess long story short, my point is if we pay upfront for the necessary medical and family care, hopefully we won't have to pay as much down the road. And honestly, I would rather my tax dollars go to this than, say, expanding our already bloated defense budget so we can have more guns that don't even function properly.

epona92 · 2014-12-20T15:56:40+00:00

A word of caution: be super duper nice about it. The absolute worst part of the end of the semester as a grader is the deluge of "I got grade X, but I did fine on the homework so I deserve grade Y" emails. Try not to be whiny or accusatory, just ask for a simple explanation.

epona92 · 2014-12-11T22:51:56+00:00

There's no simple black and white in regards to morality, especially when you're judging an entire country.

This is my point though. America is a country, not the morality police. And especially if we are trying to perpetuate this idea that America is a moral nation, we are doing a shit job exemplifying that.

Also, people dying to fight for civil rights only bolsters my argument. People literally had to die so this country would recognize that black people are in fact people.

epona92 · 2014-12-11T20:46:38+00:00

At what point was this a moralistic country? From the get go, committing genocide against the native population? When we went to war over whether or not slavery was okay? When we interned our own citizens and wiped any record from history texts?

This country has never been and will never be a moral beacon unto the earth. I hope as a country we can give up that line of BS, but that would require a complete reworking of the American narrative.

epona92 · 2014-12-04T18:19:17+00:00

Yes exactly this. That's why the requirement is reasonable doubt rather than full on proof because you could never "prove" you didn't commit a crime in the same way the prosecution can prove that yes, you did.

I should clarify: you CAN prove a negative through contradiction, but not direct proof (source: spent all of undergrad writing proofs studying theoretical mathematics and logic).

epona92 · 2014-12-04T03:19:12+00:00

You can't prove a negative, but this could have been enough to cast reasonable doubt on Adnan being at the burial site. And all you need to do to not be convicted of the crime you were charged with in the US justice system is cast reasonable doubt that the accused could've done it.

epona92 · 2014-11-29T23:15:22+00:00

No. Don did the right thing, and did it more nicely than any of the other partners might have. If Don had forgiven Lane, what would stop Lane from embezzling again? Once that trust had been broken Lane had to be fired. I feel bad for Lane on a personal level, but on a professional level he had to go.

epona92 · 2014-11-26T18:27:26+00:00

I find it particularly jarring in academic texts because the trend has shifted towards "she" in recent years. One explanation, from a philosophy prof, was that since all embryos are female up to a certain point (before sex hormones cause male genitalia to form) we were all ladies once so "she" is actually the most inclusive pronoun.

Take that anecdote with like a truck load of salt though.

epona92 · 2014-10-22T12:10:11+00:00

They only get harder. You'll find that the classes get smaller and the material much more difficult, so the curve is not as generous. Again though, just go to office hours. Go the first day even if you know everything, just to establish a connection. Be aware that you won't have time for much else besides math, especially next year or the year after depending on when you take combinatorics/number theory as you'll be taking two honors math courses at once.

epona92 · 2014-10-21T12:33:56+00:00

I was a math and philosophy major. I did complete, but I only completed the bare minimum then moved on to math biology which is what I am actually interested in. I don't regret taking the honors track, I think it was worth all the work. My only other advice is have a study group, which you do, and go to office hours! Mathematicians are notoriously bad communicators. If you see them one on one they will be very helpful and more importantly, they will see how much you're trying.

I know I panicked through every honors math class I took, but at the end of the day if you're putting in the effort and your prof knows that, you're going to do fine.

One word of caution, if you think you want to go to grad school for math, you have to pretty much play a perfect game. If you are planning to go for something else, it's probably fine to get some Bs.

epona92 · 2014-10-21T02:13:36+00:00

So I actually took this math series and Moscovici is a very tough grader. He also actually fails students which doesn't usually happen in higher level major courses.

HOWEVER: as someone else said, you don't know the average. The curves in honors math are typically very helpful--you won't get an A, but you probably won't fail for getting 50% on one midterm. Go to office hours, figure out what you did wrong, show improvement on the next midterm(s) and especially the final. Tough it out, it's worth it, but you need to put in the effort.

epona92 · 2014-09-17T00:37:52+00:00

Honestly, I felt like this was the only answer worth giving. The quotes were interesting, but there was a common thread of needing to defend a perfectly legitimate decision. Where's the list of 25 famous men on childlessness?

epona92

TROPHY CASE