About Intuition or the Gift of Fear

THE GIFT OF FEAR: That fight-or-flight visceral, in-the-moment response that we call ‘fear’ is often intuition. I can absolutely point to many times that my intuition kicked in, and I 100% know that I would be dead if I hadn’t listened to it in that split second. The first was in 1979 when I arrived home from a function, late at night, and something told me to peek in the window before entering the house. My then-husband (a physical abuser) had his shotgun trained at the door.

The second time was in the mid 80s; I was driving along an isolated stretch of road (a sort of highway) and a car behind me kept flashing their lights as if to tell me to pull over. Thinking that maybe they saw something on my car about which they wanted to warn me (like a tail light being out or such) I finally pulled over. A man walked up to my window and something told me that something was off. So I just barely cracked the window, and kept my foot on the gas. He said “How are you? Where are you going?” and I peeled out of there so fast! I later learned that there has been a serial killer in that area using exactly that MO.

The third time was in the early 2000s, in Sunnyvale, California. I was gassing up my car, and another car pulled in, nose first, to the other pump in the aisle. A man in the driver seat in that car yelled out “Hey, can you tell me where highway 101 is?” He had a map open so I couldn’t see his face, although I didn’t really consciously take note of that at the time. But something told me to not go over there. I just pointed in the direction of highway 101. He asked me to come over and show him on the map, and I didn’t. Then he said “You won’t come over here because we’re black, right?” I hightailed it out of there. It was only later, as I was recounting this to my husband, in detail, that I realized 1) The gas pumps were between us and the convenience store, so nobody could see what happened to me if I’d gone over there; 2) highway 101 was literally just behind them, in fact in the direction from which they had come, and 3) They were trying to shame me into going over there – I actually hadn’t noticed that they were black (how could I with their face obscured by the map)?

Gavin de Becker has a great book called ‘The Gift of Fear’. He is a psychologist who debriefs trauma survivors, including rape victims/near victims, assault victims, and near-victims of murder. Every time he debriefs them by bringing them back in their memory to the moments leading up to the event they realize that their intuition had told them that something was off. The ones who became victims had ignored their intuition. The ones that escaped had listened to their intuition even though they had no idea at the time why their intuition had told them that something was ‘off’; but in the recounting they were able to bring to mind many details that had added up to that ‘intuition’. de Becker explains that your intuition is, often, actually your brain and senses taking in the entire landscape, and sending a message triggering your fight-or-flight response because your brain is taking in at such a speed the things that you are unable to process consciously in the moment. Whatever you want to call it – intuition or something else – it’s your friend, trying to protect you.

I have never regretted listening to my intuition. I have often regretted not listening to my intuition. I highly recommend de Becker’s book, The Gift of Fear.

I’m sure that many of you have similar stories. Please feel free to share them, there will be no judgement here.

How I Started Replacing the Plastics in My Kitchen, Food and Drink, and What I’m Using Now

Recently I have started an effort to reduce plastics, and in particular microplastics, in my life. The obvious and most pressing place to start was in my kitchen, as it is through food and drink that microplastics end up in our bodies. Here is how I removed plastic entirely from the first area on which I focussed my attention: my water bottles, my electric kettle, and my coffee travel mug.

Note that the links below are NOT affiliate links. If you have found this helpful please consider putting something in my tip jar, but I am not going to diminish the integrity of my recommendations by trying to monetize them.

What the NIH Says About Microplastics

(Feel free to skip this section if you already know.)

The National Institute of Health explains that “Microplastics are synthetic, high-molecular weight compounds that have been micronized into plastic particles smaller than 5 mm in size. Such materials have a low biodegradation rate and, thus, mostly remain in the environment and adversely affect the human body, the final consumer in the food chain,” and “Previous estimates indicated that humans are exposed to between tens of thousands and millions of microplastics each year, or several milligrams per day. The main exposure route could be the inhalation of indoor air and drinking water in plastic bottles. Exposure to microplastics through food intake is likely the main exposure source, although it remains difficult to provide a detailed estimate due to the lack of research on the contents and internal doses of microplastics in different foods.” And, finally, “Plastic, which has become inseparable from human life, has given various benefits to mankind, but is naturally or artificially divided into various sizes and affecting the natural ecosystem. When the size of the plastic becomes smaller and microplastics are formed, they can be absorbed, ingested, or inhaled into the human body through the skin, gastrointestinal system, or lungs. These microplastics can physically block the digestive system, stimulate the mucous membrane, and injure it. Also, when the size of microplastics becomes smaller than 1 micrometer to form nanoplastics, which are ultrafine plastics, they can pass through the primary tissue barrier in the body and penetrate the capillary blood vessel through the blood stream, which can be dispersed throughout the body. In addition, ultrafine plastics have hydrophobic properties that do not dissolve in water and can be dispersed, resulting in various properties.”

What I Have Done so Far to Get Plastics Out of My Kitchen and Food and Drink Stream

When I started thinking about this I came to the stunning realization that it’s likely that the greatest daily source of microplastics in my kitchen was my water and coffee intake.

Water Bottles

For a very long time I have filled two or three quart-sized plastic water bottles and placed them, pre-filled, in my kitchen, where they would prompt me to drink them throughout the day, thus making sure that my water intake was adequate. That is two to three quarts of water every day that are stored in and drank out of plastic bottles. While they are BPA-free, to me that was no longer adequate.

In addition, I have a couple of Camelbak water bottles that I use when working out. Also, of course, plastic. I work out 5x a week, so, again, a lot of water sitting in and sipped from plastic.

What I Did About Water Bottles

Plastic-Free Sports Water Bottles

You will be hard-pressed to find all-glass, no plastic water bottles. You can find some that are all metal, although they have plastic lids (but just to cap them, you don’t drink through them). However! The good news is that there is one water bottle that is all glass, including the neck, with a silicone lid. They are made by BlenderBottle, they are 18-ounce, and they are awesome! The glass is thick, so less likely to break if you drop it (plus parts of it are encased in silicone), although of course being glass they could break if you abuse them.

The bad news is that they don’t seem to be making them any longer. But the other good news is that BlenderBottle has made this bottle for someone else, Shakeology. So you can get the Shakeology-branded all-glass BlenderBottle from Amazon, at least as long as they last, here: https://www.amazon.com/shakeology-Reusable-Durable-Silicone-Drinking/dp/B0CJGBJSKW/

Plastic-Free Quart-size Water Bottles

I replaced the “in my face to remind me to drink enough water” plastic water bottles with plain old narrow-neck (known as “regular mouth”, as compared to “wide mouth”) Mason jars (i.e. canning jars), with colourful lids. They are great, and the narrower necks fit even my tiny hands. Don’t they look great? :~)

Here’s the crazy thing: even though I was washing those water bottles every night, and they were very clean, the water in the glass bottles tastes so much better! It tastes, I don’t know – somehow cleaner, or purer! It’s much more quenching!

You can get regular-mouth quart size canning jars at most hardware or even grocery stores, or you can get them here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/LAIBY-Regular-Mouth-Canning-Silver/dp/B0C4LZV88Y/

You can get pint (16 oz) regular-mouth canning jars (in case you prefer a smaller size) here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ball-61000-Regular-16-Ounces-12-Units/dp/B07MZ97158/

Canning jars are cheap – about $1 a jar.

You can get the cute (all metal, with a silicone seal) lids here: https://www.amazon.com/Supplies-Standard-Airtight-Silicone-Chrismas/dp/B075JRW1QK/

Plastic-Free Electric Kettles

I have been using a BPA-free but fully-plastic electric kettle for years; in fact more years than I care to think about. And, of course, this may be one of the worst offenders, because that plastic is being exposed to both boiling water and boiling-hot steam every time you use it. So I was very excited to find the only electric kettle (at least on Amazon) that boldly declares “No Plastic Contact with Water!” and “ZERO CONTACT WITH PLASTIC!”! The problem is that they lie. In fact, as I wrote in my rather scathing review of the kettle, “There is plastic immediately over the spout, and the only way for there to be “no contact” is if you pour very carefully and at an odd angle. And even if you do that, your kettle has been subjecting that plastic to boiling-point steam, leaching the microplastics back into your water!”

So, of course, I returned the kettle and kept searching. And I finally found it – the holy grail of plastic-free electric kettles! It works very well, is (I think) cute, and has a cool thermometer built right into the side of the kettle so you can monitor how hot your water is, in case you are a tea aficianado or making something for children, and want the water to be a temperature below 212°. You can see it in the picture above, and you can read more about it and order it on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D8BKV3JL/

Plastic-Free Insulated Thermal Travel Cup

In my search and research I found exactly one – count ’em, one – insulated travel cup that had absolutely no plastic. I had previously loved my big stainless steel Yeti cup, but the lid (through which you sip your hot beverage) is plastic. So every sip of a hot beverage is flowing over plastic. Ick.

It took me a long time to find the one travel mug (well, tumbler) with no plastic. Fortunately, it’s awesome! It is triple-walled stainless steel (the outside comes in various patterns), with a ceramic lid! The lid has a silicone stopper to keep the liquid from splashing out, although I found that I needed to remove the stopper to make drinking through the lid comfortable, but that may just be me. If I ever needed to.. you know.. actually travel with it, I think I’d just order a second lid, keeping the stopper on one and the stopper off the other. (Note that the lid is very hard to get off and put back on the first few times, but eventually the silicone flange yields just a tiny bit, so that it’s much easier to put the lid on and off, while still sealing the tumbler.)

You can see the cup in the picture above, and here’s a picture of the lid sans silicone stopper:

You can check out this awesome no-plastic insulated travel tumbler here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KY64FHK

Again, none of these links are affiliate links. :~)

In addition I have started trying hard to buy food that isn’t in plastic, but it’s difficult! The easiest thing with which to accomplish this is fresh produce, or shelf-stable goods in non-plastic bags.

And that’s what I’ve done so far to reduce plastics and microplastics, especially in my food and drink stream! Have you also been reducing and replacing plastics in your life? What have you done? Please share it with me in a comment, so we can all benefit from what each other is doing!

How to Change Your Own Damned Subaru LED Brake Light (And No You Don’t Need to Replace the Entire Light Assembly!)

How to Change Your Own Damned Subaru Tail Light (And No You Don't Need to Replace the Entire Light Assembly!)

Guess what! When your brake light (that white sideways U) goes out on your Subaru, you don’t have to have the whole assembly replaced, and you don’t have to take it to the dealership, and you can in fact change out that specialized, proprietary Subaru LED bulb yourself, for under $50. And if I can do it, you certainly can!

NOTE: This is based on my own experience with my 2017 Subaru Forester. If you have a different year or model YMMV (no pun intended), but it probably won’t vary by much.

First, those sideways white U lights are your brake lights, so they’re pretty important. And Subaru knows this. So when you go to check how to change your rear lights in your Subaru, and in particular that sideways U brake light, in your Subaru owner’s manual you are told “consult your Subaru dealer for replacement.”

In fact, in the user’s manual those white rear sideways U lights aren’t even given a part number, instead they are designated not by a number, but by a letter, F. As we all know, F stands for F*cked. In this case, you’re effed if you want to change the burned out bulbs in that sideways U. They want you to believe that you can’t change it out yourself. Because of course they want you to do it at the dealership or, as one post I saw called it, “the stealership”. Where you will be charged at least two limbs.

And, indeed, when you ‘consult your Subaru dealer’ you are likely to be told “you need to bring it in”, and nearly as likely to be told “we need to replace the entire light assembly; that’ll be $300 please.”

So….

How to Replace Your Own Damned Brake Light No Matter What Subaru Says, Here’s How

First things first:

Order a set of Torx drivers. Here is the set that I got, they are less than $7:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q21RPS2

Then order the LED light that you need here (NOTE that this one is specific to my 2017 Forester, if you have a different year/model you may need a different one):

https://www.subarupartsplus.com/oem-parts/subaru-bulb-84960sg000

(These are NOT affiliate links. I do not use affiliate links because I want you to know that if I am recommending something it’s because I really use it myself and recommend it, and not for financial gain.)

Once you have your LED light and Torx drivers, you are ready!

Remove the Rear Light Housing

Before you can change your Subaru brake light LED, you have to be able to access it. This means removing the light assembly/housing. Some YouTube videos will tell you that you need to pry the back end of it away from the car. DO NOT DO THAT! You will break it!

How to Remove the Rear Light Housing Assembly on your Subaru

There are two screws at the front of the housing which hold the housing to the body of your car. Remove those.

Then the rear light housing slides out by pulling it straight back. This is because the back part of it is held on by a post-and-slot fastener.

It may be slightly difficult to slide this housing off, but trust me, it will happen. Do this slowly for two reasons: 1. You don’t want to risk breaking it. and 2. There is a wired connector connecting the housing to the body of the car, which you will need to unclip.

Wired Connector

Wired Connector Disconnected

Changing Out the LED Rear Brake Light

Once you have the rear light housing disconnected from the body of the car, gently set it down and look for this:

Brake Light LED Bulb*

Brake Light LED Bulb Closeup*

*I could have sworn that I took pictures exactly like the two above to include in this tutorial, however they seem to have disappeared from my phone. The above two pictures are credit to Reddit and, specifically, drinkythedrunkguy on Reddit.

Now take your Torx driver (I found that it was the #15) and remove that darned Torx screw.

Once you’ve removed the Torx screw, slide your LED brake light bulb out, and unclip it.

Clip the new bulb back in, slide it into place, and screw the Torx screw back in.

New Subaru LED Brake Light Bulb

Business End of Subaru LED Brake Light Bulb

New Subaru LED Brake Light Clipped in and About to Be Put Back In

Now just re-connect the wire between the housing and the body of the car, slide the housing back into place, replace the screws, and you’re done!

Looking for Subaru W5W and Rear Light Bulbs? Here’s What You Need to Know. Plus How to Change Your Own Subaru LED Brake Light!

Is there a conspiracy among vehicle bulb manufacturers to hide which of their bulbs is the equivalent of the W5W bulb used by Subaru?? How about why your owner’s manual says to “consult your Subaru dealer for replacement” of the rear, white sideways U light? Here is the information that you are looking for about both.

First, don’t get me wrong, I love my Subaru Forester. It’s a 2017 Subaru Forester, and not only that, it’s a Turbo Forester, with paddle shifters! This thing hauls! But omg, could the automobile lightbulb market be any more confusing? (Channeling the late, great Chandler Bing here.) Read on for the bulbs you need that are the equivalent to the W5W bulbs.

So here’s what I don’t love: the frustration when needing to change a burned out bulb, such as a rear bulb, directional bulb, side running bulb, tulip bulb, whatever bulb, and trying to wade through the vast and confusing ocean of light bulbs when you need to purchase said bulb to replace a W5W bulb in your Subaru.

You see, in the owner’s manual, you will see the W5W bulb listed as being used for a lot, and I do mean a lot of the bulbs throughout your car, including the regular rear bulbs (we’ll get to the LED bulbs that illuminate that white sideways U in a moment, but trust me, you’re not going to like it). ‘W5W’ means that the bulb is 5 watts and has a wedge-type base. Get it? Wedge 5 Watts – W5W.

To further confuse and complicate things, every single ‘how to’ video on YouTube about how to change your Subaru bulbs uses a different brand of bulb, with different numbers! And not a one of them (at least that I’ve found) mentions other brand bulbs or bulb numbers that you can use. So if you watched a video saying you want a 7443 bulb, or a 921 bulb, or a 3.1415 bulb, you’d be forgiven for not realizing that they are all a version of and equivalent to the W5W bulb, as each brand uses its own number, and few of them say “W5W bulb equivalent”, let alone “Fits the Subaru {your model}” It’s a conspiracy, I tell ya! (Not really.)

So my job here is to make your job much easier. I’m going to provide you with links on Amazon (and they are not affiliate links!) to bulbs that are actually the equivalent of (i.e. the same as) W5W bulbs, both incandescent and LED versions.

Incandescent W5W Bulbs for Your Subaru

The Philips 12961LLB2 LongerLife Miniature Bulb is a W5W incandescent bulb. In addition to the product description saying that “these are W5W miniature bulbs, also known as 12961LLB2 bulbs”, two different reviews confirm it, one saying that the bulb “will fit all T10 bulb base socket like 194,168,2825 or W5W,” and the other saying that it is “Just a different part number for W5W. Philips quality and Amazon pricing. New and bright. I try to replace lamps before they go.Then I carry the old one in the trunk as a spare. Spare lamps are the law in the EU all though not in the USA.”

Again, here is the link:

Philips 12961LLB2 LongerLife Miniature Bulb

LED W5W Bulbs for your Subaru

If you’re wanting to replace your original W5W bulbs with LED bulbs, then the Canbus 152 168 194 921 T10 LED Bulb will fit the bill. While none of the reviews mention it being W5W specifically, it is mentioned several times in the product description, and hey, it’s right in the product title. And, it has to be said, the reviews are superlative. I especially like this one: “Harness the Power of the Sun… Wow these are bright. These replaced my old LED’s installed into my map light. Those were about 4 years old. These are most definitely way brighter than previous. To be perfectly honest I could probably get away with using just one as it lights up the entire cabin. I’m probably understating this but without an instrument to measure I’m pretty confident the light output is double that of the previous LEDs it replaced. I whole heartedly recommend.”

Again, that link is: Canbus 152 168 194 921 T10 LED Bulb

(Reminder, these are NOT affiliate links. I do not use affiliate links because I want you to know that if I am recommending something it’s because I really use it myself and recommend it, and not for financial gain.)

About the White Rear Sideways U Lights on Your Subaru – They Are Your LED Brake Lights

UPDATE! While Subaru insists that you must replace the entire housing when your Subaru LED brake lights go out, you can actually replace just the LED bulb yourself! Here is the update!:

How to Change Your Own Damned Subaru LED Brake Light (And No You Don’t Need to Replace the Entire Light Assembly!)

What I’d written before discovering how to replace just the LED bulb instead of the entire light housing assembly – leaving it in for the sake of completeness.

In the owner’s manual those white rear sideways U lights are designated not by a number, like most of the other lights, but by a letter, F. As we all know, F stands for F*cked. In this case, you’re effed if you want to change the burned out bulbs in that sideways U. There’s a reason that your owner’s manual says, about those white, sideways U rear lights, to “consult your Subaru dealer for replacement.” Because those lights can’t be changed. Can’t. Be. Changed. At all. Yes, you have to change the entire rear light assembly. And of course they want you to do it at the dealership or, as one post I saw called it, “the stealership”. Where you will be charged at least two limbs.

But guess what! You can get that whole assembly on Amazon, and by all accounts it is very easy to swap that assembly out!

I’m going to give you the link to the search on Amazon, rather than a particular listing, because there is a difference in the assemblies if you have a 2017/2018 Subaru versus a 2014-2016 or 2019-2021 Subaru. There are assemblies for all of them, you just have to be careful to make sure to get the right one. They run between $115 and $150, generally speaking.

Here’s the search link: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=subaru+rear+passenger+light+assembly

That is for the passenger side. If you need it for the driver’s side, of course just switch the search term.

I hope that this has been helpful!

How I Determined What Was the Best and Safest Car for Me

A friend recently asked me how I’d determined, when needing to get a new car, what was the best and safest car for me. So I thought I’d share what I did to determine the best car for me, in case it’s helpful for some other people.

In 2016 I was in a horrible accident – I was stopped, waiting behind a bus, when this women slammed into the back of me at full speed. My car was pushed into the back of the bus, with her smashed into the back of me. So my car experienced two impacts in rapid succession, first from the back when she ran into me, and then from the front when I was rammed into the bus. I actually experienced a total of three impacts: when she rammed into me, when I was rammed into the bus, and then when the air bag deployed (thank god), throwing me back again (so I was thrown back, forward, and back again.

My beloved Town & Country van saved my life. Despite the violence of the double crash, and the front of my car being rammed with great force into the back of a stopped bus (talk about meeting an immovable object!), the front crumple zone did exactly that, it crumpled, and the driver/passenger compartment was completely unscathed in that it didn’t crumple even a tiny bit. However my beloved Town & Country van had given its life in order to save mine. :~( (I say beloved because I really did love that car.)

My beloved Town & Country (sniffle)

My car was totaled. So once I’d recovered (thankfully I wasn’t horribly hurt) I had to buy a car. I searched and searched for another Town & Country, the same model and no newer than the same year (2004), as that is the last year that they made the Town & Country with all-wheel drive (AWD), on which I absolutely insist living as I do in the foothills of Colorado. Once it became clear that a) I wasn’t going to find anyone selling a pre-2005 T&C, and b) the interest rates were much higher on used cars, while there were lots of great deals on interest rates for new cars, I determined that I was going to buy a new car. But which one?

So I contacted my insurance company and asked them “What cars make you the happiest when you see that is what your insured is driving?” Meaning, which ones do you consider the safest? They sent me a list of about 20 cars. Then I took that list to my trusted (and very popular, so they had lots of experience) mechanic and asked them “Which of these cars do you see the *least* for issues?”

They gave me a list of three: The Toyota Rav4, the Honda CRX, and the Subaru Forester. I test drove each – both the Toyota and the Honda were very uncomfortable to sit in (I’m short, just 5’3). In one of them I couldn’t even see over the hood, and in the other the rear side windows were so weirdly placed and so small that they didn’t provide good visibility out. (I forget which was which but I *think* it was the CRV that had the poor visibility out of the side rear windows).

The Subaru Forester was the third of the three cars that I test drove, and thank goodness that when I test drove the Subaru it felt *very* comfortable, and I could see with good visibility out all of the windows.

So, that’s why I have a 2017 Subaru Forester in my garage. :~)

The moral of this story is: If you find yourself needing to buy a car, ask your insurance company which ones they consider the safest and which have the least number of claims. Then take that list to your mechanic and ask them which ones they see the *least* for issues and repairs. Then go test drive those cars.

The Actual Fix for the Roomba “Error 2 Please Clear Debris Extractors”

So your Roomba is toddling along merrily, and suddenly it stops and says “Error 2 please clear debris extractors.” So once you figure out just what are the debris extractors (they are those two rollers on the bottom that sweep stuff into your Roomba) you do what you think you should need to do to “clear the debris extractors”. Then you start your Roomba again, and it starts toddling along again, so you think “Yay, that fixed it!” And then your Roomba says “Psych! Error 2! Please clear the debris extractors.” So you lather, rinse, repeat, each time your Roomba goes a couple of minutes, lulling you into a false sense of security, and then screams at you “I SAID ERROR 2, YOU MORON! CLEAR THE F*CKING DEBRIS EXTRACTORS”, and gee, it doesn’t even say “please” this time, how rude!

By now you’ve tried everything that the intertubes tells you to. These likely include:

– Removing the debris extractors and repositioning them and putting them back in

– Removing the debris extractors and inspecting for and brushing away any loose dirt, hair, etc. from behind the debris extractors

– Removing the debris extractors and taking a swab to both ends of both debris extractors, and to the indentations in the body of the Roomba into which both debris extractors fit

– Removing the “cleaning head module” (wait, the what??*) to see if anything is trapped in/behind/under there. *For our purposes, the cleaning head module can be thought of as the cavity in which the two debris extractor rollers sit, although it is of course much more

– Removing the battery for at least 5 minutes to have the Roomba re-set itself

But I’m going to bet that there’s one thing that you haven’t done, and I blame the many “how to” sites that don’t make this very clear (which is why I’m writing it up for you, so that you can find it easily!)

This thing is removing the yellow end of the debris extractors and removing all of the hair and other stuff that has accumulated in the body of the extractor.

This is what needs to be removed

Note that the endcaps don’t always pop off as easily as in the video, you may need to really fiddle with them, and really twist them and pull on them (but gently, you don’t want to break anything).

Once you get those endcaps off you will be astonished/shocked/grossed out at just how much stuff has accumulated back there. This stuff is what is causing the error, primarily because it is keeping the debris extractors from turning freely.

Ewwwww

You need to very carefully remove it all; I found that a pair of tweezers was useful for this. You will be amazed at the amount of stuff you will extract.

This is what was removed from just one of the two debris extractors

Then be sure to take a swab and carefully clean the underside of each yellow cap.

Reassemble your Roomba, and revel in the lack of it telling you “Error 2 Please Clear Debris Extractors”!

Of course my hope is that you found this post well before you went through all of the other steps, thus saving you from the maddening experience of trying everything else first only to hear your Roomba continue to taunt you.

Speaking of how many times your Roomba will tell you “Error 2 Please Clear Debris Extractors”, I finally realized why my dog Lily gets so excited when the Roomba starts up – I’m pretty sure, having heard the Roomba talk so much, that she thinks that there’s a little tiny person inside there! Seriously, she wags her tail so hard when the Roomba comes a’toddling!

How and Where to Get Your Personal Background Check in Colorado to Use on Rental Applications

If you live in Colorado or are about to move to Colorado, here’s how and where you can get your own personal background check to provide to landlords, rental agents, and property management companies when you are applying for a rental, instead of having to pay a criminal background check fee for each rental application that you submit.

This can potentially save you hundreds of dollars as you can attach your own individual background check to rental applications, rather than having to pay the application fee that nearly all landlords and management companies require when applying for a rental.

This is because Colorado passed a law this past year called HB23-1099 – Portable Screening Report for Residential Leases, that requires landlords to accept these reports from prospective tenants.

Here’s the relevant text of HB23-1099:

Except in certain circumstances, the act requires a landlord to accept from a prospective tenant a portable tenant screening report (screening report). A landlord may require that the screening report was prepared by a consumer reporting agency (reporting agency) within the previous 30 days, at the prospective tenant’s request and expense, and made directly available to the landlord by the agency. The act specifies information that must be included in a screening report, including verification of employment and income, rental and credit history, and criminal history. If a prospective tenant provides a screening report, the landlord shall not charge the prospective tenant either an application fee or a fee for the landlord to access or use the screening report.

Prior to collecting any tenant information that would generate an application fee, a landlord shall advise a prospective tenant that the landlord accepts screening reports and is prohibited from charging an application fee or other fee to a prospective tenant who provides a screening report

It’s important to note a few things from the law:

– The landlord may require that the report be no more than 30 days old

– The landlord may require that the report come directly from the agency

– The report must include verification of employment and income, rental and credit history, and criminal history (these are all things, of course, which a report ordered by the prospective landlord would also include)

Where to Get Your Personal Background Check to Provide When Renting in Colorado

First, we need to say (and as Colorado Public Radio found out, there are virtually no agencies which provide everything required by the law BUT read on! This is only because most do not provide employment history, and this is something you can readily get by asking your current employer for a letter (or, if you’ve recently changed jobs, a letter from your current employer as well as your last employer). So just ask the prospective landlord if it’s ok to provide a letter from your employer along with your background check.

Another thing that Colorado Public Radio accurately noted is that generally speaking they don’t provide local criminal convictions, as that would include county and even city level records, which would be incredibly costly to do, which is why landlords rarely require it. As CPR notes, “the law calls for a records check for all “local” convictions, which is more intensive than what landlords typically require. Technically speaking, a landlord could require the tenant’s report to include checks of individual counties where the person has lived…”.

So in this case you may want to just submit your background check, and if the landlord actually wants to see local criminal records, let them tell you that (but it seems that very few would).

Ok, here we go!

Individual Background Check Services

ApplyConnect ApplyConnect provides individual rental background checks which include a complete credit report from Experian, and full rental and criminal history, for $39.95. ApplyConnect is the only individual tenant background check service that I found which specifically says on their site that you can “Pay for your tenant screening report to share it with up to 3 landlords (within 30 days of purchase), and see the details of your report before you decide to share.” To me this suggests that they are aware of the law, including that landlords can require that the background check be sent to them by the background check service, and that the law allows landlords to insist on the background check having been performed within 30 days.

Tenant Background Search Tenant Background Search’s $24.95 search includes a credit report, nationwide criminal records, past address history, and an “employment summary”. (It also includes things that the law doesn’t require, such as a sex offender search and Patriot Act search.)

RentPrep The RentPrep tenant background check you want is called “TransUnion Full Credit Report (SmartMove)”, it costs $40.00 with a $10 add-on for income verification.

TenantAlert TenantAlert offers several background check packages, the ones that include what is required by law (other than the employment history and local criminal records) start at $39.95.

Where to Get a Colorado Local Criminal Background Check

If your prospective landlord does want a local criminal background check you can get a local Colorado criminal background check here, from RTenant, for $20.95.

How I Flattened My Plantar Fibroma without Injections, Surgery, Physical Therapy, Verapamil, or Orthotics

If you have developed a plantar fibroma you may have questions, as did I, such as “Can you shrink your plantar fibroma naturally?” and “How do you break up a plantar fibroma?” because you want to get rid of the darned things! First, to the base question, what is a plantar fibroma, and then I will tell you how I flattened (shrank, and broke up) my plantar fibroma naturally, without injections, surgery, or orthotics. In fact my fibroma went from a hard, round, pea-sized lump when I first discovered it on March 5, 2024, to barely noticeable 5 weeks later, and it has stayed flattened and ‘broken down’ ever since. I am including a picture at the bottom of the page of the things that I mention using.

What is a Plantar Fibroma?

According to the Cleveland Clinic, “A plantar fibroma is a rare benign growth on your plantar fascia, the rubber band-like ligament that stretches from your heel to your toes. Plantar fibromas are small — usually less than an inch — and grow on the arch of your foot. You might not even notice one at first, but eventually a plantar fibroma can cause foot pain, especially when you’re wearing shoes. Plantar fibromas are always benign, which means they’re never a symptom (or cause) of cancer. If you get plantar fibromas frequently, you might be diagnosed with plantar fibromatosis, a condition that means you’ve shown a tendency to develop future plantar fibromas.”

And according to PDLabs, the exclusive manufacturer of Transdermal Verapamil gel (often prescribed for plantar fibroma, PDLabs compounds it), “Plantar fibromatosis is a fibrotic tissue disorder of the plantar fascia that consists of excess collagen or fibrotic tissue. The excess collagen is commonly referred to as a fibroma.”

This was interesting to me because I have a very rare autoimmune condition, localized scleroderma, which is also related to excess collagen and which I developed while I was taking a collagen booster

Anyways, basically a plantar fibroma is a small, round lump made up of what is essentially scar tissue.

What I’ve Learned About What Does and Doesn’t Work to Get Rid of Plantar Fibromas

First, this is not by any stretch of the imagination intended to be either authoritative or exhaustive. It is not advice. It’s just my experience, based on my own research, experimentation, and experience.

After discovering my fibroma, the first thing I did (because I thought that’s what I should do) was to make an appointment with the podiatry practice here (‘here’ is in Colorado) who actually offers the enzyme injections (so lucky to have that as a resource here, at least, even if I never use them :~) ). But the more research I did while waiting for the appointment, the more that I realized it was overkill and that I wanted to reserve that as the last resort, not the first (so I cancelled the appointment).

Perhaps more importantly, in the research I did, which included joining online groups of people who also are dealing with plantar fibroma, I learned that none of the available medical treatments are permanent and some are actually worse than having the fibroma.

As a result I ruled out steroid injections as they are not a cure (they do help some for a while, but the fibromas come back), enyzme injections (ditto, plus insurance doesn’t even cover the injections), radiation which is hit or miss and may do more damage than good and, as with the injections, I’ve never heard of anyone who had it who didn’t still have fibromas come back. And surgery was a 100% no-go as it is known to cause other, irreparable damage.

So I started combing the groups and researching the net for other treatments and, more importantly for what others had found had and hadn’t worked for them, and developed my own system for treating my plantar fibroma, reducing it and beating it into submission. All of this is based on my understanding that fibroma are similar to scar tissue and so it makes sense to me that treating it similarly would be effective; when I broke my wrist (a dance injury) the doctor who was advising me told me to be sure to really work my wrist, even though it would hurt along the surgery site, because I needed to break up the scar tissue to ensure that I kept my range of motion. This is also how the enyzme injections work – the enzymes break down the scar tissue.

So what I did and am doing is based on that knowledge, and the information and experiences of people who had done the injections, physical therapy, the radiation, the surgery, and various topicals and supplements. I combined all of the topicals and actions that others had said worked for them to a greater or lesser degree, rejecting everything that either didn’t work or that worked for a while but not permanently (such as the injections and surgery).

The Result: Flattened Fibroma for the Win!

Fairly quickly my fibroma went from a hard, round, painful pea-sized marble to being flattened out and ‘crunchy’ when I rub it hard (just like broken down scar tissue). My fibroma is still there, but flattened, and it doesn’t hurt, and it doesn’t interfere with walking, working out, or generally with my life at all. I’m still working on it and I believe it will get smaller still.

At a recent visit to a podiatrist, he pronounced it “crepitus”, which in this context meant ‘crunchy’, because, hey, that scar tissue has been broken up! Going from hard and painful to flat and crepitus is exactly what you want.

How I Flattened My Plantar Fibroma without Injections, Surgery, Physical Therapy, Prescription Topicals, or Orthotics

Please note that I am including links for various items, but they are NOT affiliate links as I feel that those degrade the perceived integrity of the links; after all you can’t really know if I really love a product or service, or am just trying to make money off of it. So no affiliate links here, if you feel that I’ve provided you with good information, instead please buy me a latte through my tip jar in the upper right-hand corner of the page. :~)

Chaga and Birch Salve

My method is primarily the result of combining two primary things which others have said worked for them. First, a woman named Robin in one of the groups very graciously shared that she made a salve of chaga and birch which she rubbed on nightly, and that it had helped reduce her fibroma.

She also graciously shared how she made it, which involved taking chaga and birch and boiling and reducing them, and then sieving them and then mixing the resulting liquid with a carrier oil (I believe it was olive although I could be wrong).

I, being lazy (and also at very high risk as I’m immunocompromised so don’t really go to stores, and have no birch woods in the area) scouted around and found an awesome service that will make custom solves and essential oils for you, and had them compound a salve with chaga and birch.

They are called Willow Herb Healing and you can find them at WillowHergHealing.com. The round dark pot with the pink lid in the picture at the bottom of this page is the salve.

Deep Massage (Rubbing) of the Fibroma to Break It Up

Another woman named Pamela shared a video of how her podiatrist had shown her how to firmly rub back and forth against the fibroma with her knuckle or nail, 100 times, to help break it down, saying it had helped shrink hers to the point it no longer bothered her. I wish that I could find Pamela again to thank her, and to share her video, but it looked exactly as it sounds: she was quickly rubbing her knuckle back and forth over the fibroma, 100 times.

However instead of using my knuckle or nail, I bought a Gua Sha tool, which can be purchased on Amazon for under $10. This is a flat, stainless steel tool which is specifically made for, among other things, the breaking up of scar tissue. You can see it in the picture, it’s the flat, shiny thing. This is the one that I purchased.

I use this to scrape across my fibroma (dry foot) 100 times in the morning, then I cover the fibroma with the patch that I describe below.

Topicals

Three oils were mentioned over and over: Bergamot essential oil, Frankincense essential oil, and castor oil as a carrier. I don’t know if they help or not, but I know they can’t hurt. So, I buy these patches which are meant for you to put castor oil on them and then you put it over your belly button (the edges are adhesive), but instead I put a dollop of the salve, and a couple of drops of the castor, Bergamot, and Frankincense oils on one, and then adhere it to the bottom of my foot, over the fibroma. I wear it all day. You can see one of the patches in the picture at the bottom of this page, it’s the white square thing to the left of the salve pot.

Then at night, while sitting watching tv, I remove the patch, put a little more salve on the area, and rub it hard (with my knuckle or nail) 100 times. I could use the Gua Sha tool at night too, but, as I’ve mentioned, I’m lazy, and the tool is downstairs and the tv is upstairs and besides, I don’t want to have to wash the tool by using it with the salve. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t though, if you want to.

Supplements

Across the net I had seen several mentions of both nattokinase, and serrapeptase, as helping. I even found one brand of serrapeptase that is vegan (as am I).

Serrapeptase and Nattokinase

Serrapeptase and nattokinase are enzymes that are known for breaking down scar tissue. “The fibrinolytic enzymes serrapeptase and nattokinase have been shown to be effective in removing fibrous scar tissue,” explains a study published in the National Institute of Health.

I take this serrapeptase and this nattokinase.

Mushroom Supplement

I also found a powdered supplement for dogs that is supposed to help with lumps, and the ingredients were all different kinds of mushrooms (including chaga!); so I found a similar supplement in capsules for people. This is the mushroom supplement I take. I generally try to do everything organic as much as possible, but I haven’t yet found a mushroom supplement that is organic and also contains all of these mushrooms.

So I am taking the nattokinase, the serrapeptase, and the mushroom complex.

A Warning About PABA

I’ve seen using a PABA supplement recommended in places. That makes sense to me because, as I mentioned above, I have localized scleroderma, which is a very rare, incurable (but fortunately superficial and benign) autoimmune condition which also is related to collagen (as are fibromas) and a doctor recommended massive doses of PABA to me, saying that it would cure it. Instead, it landed me in the hospital, putting me in a stroke-like state, and almost killed me. It turns out that (at least very large) doses of PABA are known to be toxic. In fact a note on the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) website says that “there is considerable evidence that PABA taken orally can be toxic.” You can read other reports on PABA toxicity here.

The Results! Tah-Dah!

As I mentioned, I discovered my fibroma on March 5, 2024, I discovered it when I suddenly felt very evident pain in my right foot when walking. I felt the hard, painful lump, and immediately started the research discussed above.

Fairly quickly after starting the above regimen my fibroma went from a hard, round, painful pea-sized marble to being flattened out and ‘crunchy’ when I rub it hard (just like broken down scar tissue). My fibroma is still there, but smaller, flattened, and it doesn’t hurt – I’m still working on it and I believe it will get smaller still.

I hope this has been helpful to some!

How to Submit a Claim for Reimbursement to Medicare or Other Insurance for Out-of-Pocket Expenses Due to the Hack and Cyberattack on Change Healthcare

Thousands of people on Medicare (and other insurances) are still being affected by the hack and cyberattack on Change Healthcare, which happened, mind you, in February 2024 and which has resulted in pharmacies being unable to submit prescriptions and services such as vaccinations to Medicare (and, again, other insurances), and thousands of people across the U.S. having to either pay out of pocket for prescriptions and vaccinations, or do without. If you’ve had to pay out of pocket for a prescription or vaccination or booster because of this, here’s how to submit a claim for reimbursement to Medicare. It’s almost certainly the same for other insurance carriers as well, except they will have a different claim form and/or submission process.

If you need to submit the claim specifically to Medicare (versus a different insurance carrier) be sure to read the second part of this, which explains exactly how to submit a claim for reimbursement to Medicare because, like everything else associated with Medicare, they have made it needlessly and ridiculously complicated, so there is a plain English explanation of what you need to do for Medicare along with links to what you need.

What You Need from the Pharmacy in Order to Submit a Claim for Reimbursement Because the Pharmacy Couldn’t Submit Your Prescription to Medicare or Your Insurance Because of the Change Healthcare Hack

First, of course, you need an itemized receipt.

But second, and importantly, you need a note from the pharmacy saying the following:

Date:
Patient name:
Pharmacy name:

Please be advised that (pharmacy name) was unable to process this prescription or service to submit to (Medicare / insurance carrier) because of the inability to connect to the prescription processing system owing to the ongoing malfunctioning of the system resulting from the hack and cyberattack on Change Healthcare.

(signed, Pharmacist)

What You Need to Submit Your Claim to Medicare for Reimbursement of Your Prescription

First, a little bit of Medicare craziness: You may think that vaccinations would be submitted under your Medicare Part D (remember, D is for drugs). You would be wrong. Your friendly pharmacist has to submit vaccinations (such as a Covid booster) under your Medicare Part B. If you have, instead, an Advantage plan (Part C) well, all bets are off. (Read my Plain English Explanation of Medicare and How and How Not to Sign Up here for plain English explanations of all of the various parts, and why you do not want you or a loved one to sign up for “Advantage” plans here.)

To submit a claim for reimbursement to Medicare you need Medicare form CMS-1490S “PATIENT’S REQUEST FOR MEDICAL PAYMENT” (link to that form below, but read the rest of this first).

On form CMS-1490S you MUST check “The provider or supplier is unable to file a claim for the Medicare Covered Services” as the reason for submitting the claim for reimbursement. If you check either of the other two reasons, or if you don’t check any of them, your claim will be rejected.

Now, once you have form CMS-1490S filled out, you need to submit it. Here is something that may blow your mind: did you know that you don’t submit Medicare claims for reimbursement directly to Medicare? If you, like many others, have never yet had occasion to submit a claim for reimbursement to Medicare, then when you start reading the claim form (info on that in a moment) and come across the instructions which say “Send the completed form and supporting documentation to your Medicare contractor” you may, understandably say, “WTF?,” followed by “How the hell do I find that??”

Well, form CMS-1490S consists of three pages of actual form that you need to fill out and submit, and fifteen pages of advisements, instructions, and other information. Somewhere around page seven is a list of all of the various Medicare contractors who handle claims regarding vaccinations and other Part B stuff for all of the various states. That list is itself 5 pages long. In addition, you can find the actual list of Medicare contractors at the following link, because why trust a form that was printed a while ago when you can check the actual live list that, one would hope, is most up-to-date? Plus, the linked list will give you the contractors in your state for all Medicare services (Part A, Part B, and the Home Health and Hospice services contractor); the list attached to form CMS-1490S is only for being reimbursed for Part B issues.

Link to live list of all Medicare contractors by state

Where to Download Medicare form CMS-1490s

Download Medicare form CMS-1490s here:

Download Medicare form CMS-1490s

How to Pay Your Medicare Premium Online and How to Set Up Medicare Autopay

Do you know where to make your Medicare premium payment? If you are wondering how to view your Medicare bill online, how to pay your Medicare bill online, or how to set up autopay (which is called ‘Medicare Easy Pay’) for your Medicare bill, here’s how. (First, wondering “why is my first medicare bill so high?” It’s because they often bill the first two months together.)

Now this is specifically how to pay your premiums for Medicare Part A and Part B. Of course, it’s quite possible (even likely) that you won’t have a premium for Medicare part A, but you are likely to have a premium for Medicare part B (because having read this you know better than to sign up for Medicare Advantage rather than Part B). So when you first sign up for Medicare you will get a premium bill of some sort, and here is how to pay it online, and how to set it up for autopay.

[For more information on Medicare see my articles Medicare Explained in Plain English & How and Where to Sign Up for Medicare, as well as How and Where to Find Your Medicare Number When You Don’t Have Your Card]

Once again, the Federal government has not made it particular intuitive in terms of how and where to pay your Medicare bill online, or how to set up autopay for which, of course, the Feds have created a whole new, non-intuitive term, “Medicare Easy Pay”. Fortunately once you know where to look, you will find all of your payment options in one place, so at least there’s that.

Now if you like to go paperless – or at least to attempt to go paperless by signing up for electronic payment and then just for the most part ignoring paper bills – you’ll be happy to know that Medicare not only makes it relatively easy, but that there’s an added incentive: their bills come with payment coupons! Holy 1970s, Batman! When was the last time that you had to deal with that??

How to Pay Your Medicare Premium Bill

As they explain it on the Medicare site, once you find it (link below), there are basically four ways that you can pay your Medicare premium bill. You can:

Pay online
Sign up for Medicare Easy Pay (their autopay option)
Pay by direct bank withdrawal (also known as ACH, which stands for ‘Automated Clearing House’, which is the financial network that processes electronic payments)
Send a credit card, check, or money order via USPS

Here’s how they explain it:

1. Pay online through your secure Medicare account (fastest way to pay).

Log into (or create) your secure Medicare account to use this free service to pay by credit card, debit card, or from your checking or savings account.

2. Sign up for Medicare Easy Pay.

With this free service, we’ll automatically deduct your premium payments from your savings or checking account each month.

3. Pay directly from your savings or checking account through your bank’s online bill payment service

Some banks charge a service fee.

4. Mail your payment to Medicare.

Pay by check, money order, credit card, or debit card. Fill out the payment coupon at the bottom of your bill, and include it with your payment.

If you’re paying by credit or debit card, be sure to complete and sign the coupon. If you don’t sign the coupon, we can’t process your payment and it will be returned to you.

Where to Pay Your Medicare Premium Bill or Set Up Medicare Easy Pay (Autopay)

How and Where to Pay Your Medicare Premium Online

It all starts with logging in to your Medicare account, which you can do at https://www.medicare.gov/account/login/

Paying a single Medicare premium bill:

Once you are logged in you can go directly to the premium payment link here:

https://www.medicare.gov/mbp/premiumpayment.aspx

The above link will give you payment options using credit and debit cards (including HSA cards), and direct withdrawal from your bank account (ACH).

Signing up for Medicare Easy Pay (autopayments):

To sign up for Medicare autopay, which Medicare calls ‘Medicare Easy Pay’, go here:

https://www.medicare.gov/mbp/easypaysignup.aspx

Pay by U.S. Mail

If you want to send a check, money order, or credit or debit card information by the USPS, you must have received your payment coupon book from Medicare in the mail, and you must include the payment coupon. Then mail your payment, along with the filled out coupon, to:

Medicare Premium Collection Center
PO Box 790355
St. Louis, MO 63179-0355