Reading other blogs takes me down sometimes...

After all, Sig is now a professor, Lisa is a teacher, Erica is going to be a bug expert (btw - you should go on to also do criminology - be the female Gil Grissom!) and what have I done with my career?

Well, almost nothing. That is, until I think about what I actually do all day.

I get to change someone's life every day - sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Every day, I decide whether someone will receive payment for medical treatment, or whether they will have to pay out of their own pocket.

I get to sort through thousands of pages of documentation and determine whether a doctor is trying to screw taxpayers. I get to bring the wrath of the law down upon facilities who try raise the cost of healthcare.

I get to help those less fortunate get a second chance, whether it be by approving a transplant, or taking care of a multi-million dollar medical bill. But at the same time, I can destroy a family by telling them that we can't help them.

And yes - we are the last place they can go.

I started feeling better after I got my yearly review - I paid over twenty billion dollars in claims last year. I denied over eighty billion dollars.

Those are the kind of numbers that make someone feel important.