The good weather finally gave way to more grey skies and some rain starting mid-week. I’ve been staying in for the most part, trying to keep on track with my studies for my second accounting exam on July 14. It feels like my energy and attention has been spread thinly over a variety of pending projects and concerns. As the last full week of June comes to a close, marking 9 months since I arrived to Dublin, I’m still facing a lot of uncertainty. This would have also been Pride weekend, although the usual celebrations are being dampened by the gloomier weather (in a very literal sense) and by the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.
Accounting exam studies
There are only 2 out of 6 sections left to cover, and the penultimate one I’ve been focusing on this week is all about investment decision calculations — net present values, internal rates of return, depreciation tax shields, etc. I’ve completed two practice runs of 50 multiple choice questions, but my results so far have fallen way short of the 86% target score. In addition, the practice questions for this section are taking me an average of 2 minutes, which is almost twice as long as questions from other sections. Thankfully the investment decisions section is only supposed to comprise 10% of the exam, so I will only be faced with a fraction of the questions I’m having to complete in the practice tests. Next week the last section to study covers ethics, which is supposed to comprise 15% of the exam. I don’t expect it to be as difficult given that the questions are more conceptual in nature without any formulas or calculations to memorize. After that, I’ll have a week and a half for a final review of all the part 2 sections and running through a couple full 4-hour exam simulations. I can’t wait to be on the other side of the exam!
Job update
It’s been two weeks since my successful interview for a Finance Administrator position at University College Dublin (UCD) and their subsequent advancement of my candidacy. While I am still waiting to receive an offer, the recruiter has been very responsive and forthcoming about where things stand. Apparently, there is still one signature needed from the “Board of Assessors” before the offer details are approved. I was hoping to hear back before the end of this week, but obviously that didn’t happen. Fingers crossed I hear back first thing next week.
COBRA health insurance
The 3-months long saga for my COBRA health insurance subsidy is (hopefully) nearing its end. My U.S. health insurance coverage has been provided through the University of California since September 2019, when my temporary appointment at UCSF ended. My monthly premiums for medical coverage (not including dental or vision benefits) have been $800+ per month, and I was elated when I heard that the American Rescue Plan legislation signed into law in March would cover 100% of my premiums for 6 months effective April 1. However, confirming eligibility for the subsidy has been a nightmare, with multiple calls to both UC’s COBRA benefits administrator (Discovery Benefits) and the University of California’s centralized benefits office (UCPath). To avoid losing coverage while I was trying to confirm my eligibility, I was required to pay premiums in April and May. Now with the end of June approaching (already halfway through the 6 month subsidy period), the COBRA administrator issued an eligibility notice to me on June 22 that included an attestation form that I had to complete and submit via email. By pure luck, I called Discovery Benefits on June 22 to follow up with them, and the representative alerted me that the notice had been issued that day… I was able to download an electronic copy of the notice and submit the required attestation form the same day, otherwise it probably would have been another week before the notice showed up in my SF mailbox. (Also, the notice itself said nothing about being able to submit the form via email, so I’m glad I called to speak with a human being.) The representative also told me to wait a few days for the form to be processed, then to call back to request a refund. Today I just called Discovery Benefits again, and the representative confirmed that my subsidy eligibility has been updated in my account but that I would need to send another email to request a refund for the $1600+ I paid for the April and May premiums. At this point I’m not surprised at all that there is an extra step, given all the contradictory information I have received over the last three months. I emailed my refund request to Discovery Benefits, asking that in addition to the premiums that they refund me the $40 in processing fees for the two payments I made. I doubt they will refund me the processing fees, which would be the least they could do for all the distress and frustration this has caused. I’ll be glad enough when this is over and stops being a drain on my energy.
In the meantime, my sister has agreed to ship over another 3 months supply of prescription medications that I had refilled in the U.S. and mailed to her. So far this multi-step process has gone more smoothly than last time, although it’s always a worry that the package might get held up in Irish customs.
This week I also finished the last module in my Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT) programme: Distress Tolerance. The other DBT modules are Mindfulness (a 2-week curriculum repeated at the beginning of each module), Personal Effectiveness, and Emotional Regulation. I am planning on continuing with the group to go through the Emotional Regulation module a second time, since my insurance covers the programme 100% and the weekly, 90-minute Zoom meetings haven’t been a huge time commitment. Some of the other participants in my group are rotating off, which is sad because we’ve had a good group dynamic with a range of ages, genders etc. I’m curious as to who will be joining to fill in the available slots.
Blog migration
This has been another project that I have been working on over the past weeks, and I’m getting close to having it ready to go. Although the Blogger platform will continue to function, they are turning off the email subscription functionality in July (I assume the 1st of the month? they weren’t specific). I have been testing using MailChimp as a substitute, and it seems to be working, so if you’re currently subscribed keep a lookout for more updates soon. I believe I can import any current subscribers into the new system without anyone needing to resubscribe. The second stage of the migration is to move the blog completely off Blogger and on to my own website, which I have been using WordPress to build. Stay tuned!
COVID update
Yesterday I received a text from Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) confirming an appointment for my 2nd Pfizer dose next Tuesday June 29, exactly 30 days after my 1st dose so right on schedule according to HSE’s guidelines.
This week there has been a lot of discussion in Irish media about the Delta variant, which has been confirmed in a growing number of new COVID-19 cases in Ireland. The government has been targeting July 5th as the date for indoor dining and bar service to reopen, but there is a strong possibly this will be pushed back, similar to how the UK has delayed its re-opening. In addition, there is talk about accelerating the vaccination rollout for younger age groups using available J&J and AstraZeneca doses. A friend in Denmark told me that some young people there were actively trying to contract COVID-19, so that after 14 days they would be considered immune and therefore eligible for the EU digital COVID certificate faster than they would be waiting for a vaccine. Perhaps Ireland is trying to head off this behaviour by rolling out vaccines to younger people faster?
Ireland’s COVID statistics have been delayed due to last month’s ransomware attack on the HSE, but it appears this has been fixed… as of June 20th around 50% of Ireland’s population has had at least one vaccine dose, and about 20% are fully vaccinated. In the coming weeks, more people in their 40s like me will be fully vaccinated, but it will still be awhile before the 20s and 30s groups would be able to get a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, which has accounted for roughly two-thirds of all doses administered in Ireland. Given that there is reduced vaccine efficacy against the Delta variant after a single dose, Ireland is facing a race against time to get enough people fully vaccinated before the new strain of the virus pervades the country. The number of new cases has been decreasing steadily, albeit slowly, but the HSE chief executive has warned that the ‘dark days’ of January when the Alpha/UK variant skyrocketed across Ireland could be repeated with the Delta variant.
Until next time….
