I must confess that my lack of blogging is working hand in hand with my lack of motivation on language learning and a general fallow spell on writing music as well. The past year has been one of recovery and reconnection from my extended time on the road, and I think I've been trying to do a couple of things a little better than before:
When I'm home, I try to really be home and present for the family. Isaac needs to be played with. Bella needs to be read with. But more importantly, Pamela needs to have time with me in the room (and I need to be with her too) to decompress at the end of the day. It just doesn't seem right or fair for me to disappear upstairs to be working on my Japanese pronunciation or tweaking a bass drum track.
Which isn't to say I'm not pursuing geeky pursuits - I'm reading a lot and still getting caught up on old Doctor Who episodes... but these are things I can do with some earbuds in, sitting and looking at Pamela as she does whatever she's doing (recently it's been research on the 1990s for a set of posters for a Girl Scout sleepover. These girls have no idea what Color Me Badd have in store for them).
I have been spending a fair amount of time at the Gym... but there's a good reason: Isaac LOVES the kids club at the Gym, and asks to go EVERY SINGLE DAY. I try to go every other day. Knowing that he WANTS to play for 90 minutes keeps me on my toes and encourages me to really get a good workout in - I'm running around 4 miles a session now.
Sometimes I bring Bella, but she's much more interested in reading and drawing than dodgeball. Pamela's also in the mix, coming along 3 times a week for her group fitness team... we're all working on health, here. It's good. I'm starting to recognize the crazy guy who used to teach fitness classes... and I think I may actually be in slightly better shape now than I was back then.
So that's what I've been up to: I'm just not quite in a writing state of mind. I'm spending a lot more family time, and more free time is taken up with exercise these days. I'll get there again, don't worry.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Time warp
A good day in Philly, but had a very odd thing happen. I was here 2 years ago, and I had produced a set of recommendations that I have figured out they really haven't acted upon. When I got re-engaged, I was reviewing my emails, and found one status report from 11.19.09 that I had sent to my immediate boss, but that may not have reached the rest of the team. So I forwarded it along.
Today I had a full hour meeting to discuss what I had put into that email two years ago, and what we should do about it. We went point by point through the email and they explained how this one thing wasn't an issue any more, and how this point was still a problem, and what should we do?
But the strangest thing was that really for most of the document, my recommendations were still valid - they just hadn't gone and done it yet. The whole place was more or less in the SAME PLACE I left them back then.
So I'm actually now looking at the potential for getting a resource engaged with this client to actually go ahead and do the things that I specifically told them to do over 24 months ago, only this time, really make sure they DO it.
Walking out of that meeting, I ran into my old boss from the earlier time who has moved to a different area. Ken was a research librarian who had been put in charge of a cardiac center with lots of opinionated physicians. He always seemed happiest in his office with a whiteboard full of concepts about standardizing diagnosis codes or categorizing procedures - he remained a librarian at heart. Well his new job is doing JUST THAT - standardizing codes and things. And he seems happier.
And though he didn't actually do anything with my previous recommendations and that frustrated me a little, I was happy that he was doing what he wanted to be doing in life.
Fascinating stuff.
Today I had a full hour meeting to discuss what I had put into that email two years ago, and what we should do about it. We went point by point through the email and they explained how this one thing wasn't an issue any more, and how this point was still a problem, and what should we do?
But the strangest thing was that really for most of the document, my recommendations were still valid - they just hadn't gone and done it yet. The whole place was more or less in the SAME PLACE I left them back then.
So I'm actually now looking at the potential for getting a resource engaged with this client to actually go ahead and do the things that I specifically told them to do over 24 months ago, only this time, really make sure they DO it.
Walking out of that meeting, I ran into my old boss from the earlier time who has moved to a different area. Ken was a research librarian who had been put in charge of a cardiac center with lots of opinionated physicians. He always seemed happiest in his office with a whiteboard full of concepts about standardizing diagnosis codes or categorizing procedures - he remained a librarian at heart. Well his new job is doing JUST THAT - standardizing codes and things. And he seems happier.
And though he didn't actually do anything with my previous recommendations and that frustrated me a little, I was happy that he was doing what he wanted to be doing in life.
Fascinating stuff.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
These things happen
I'm back in Philly at the Children's Hospital again. I still have my full time job in Minneapolis, don't get me wrong, but there's something about Philly that keeps drawing me back. It takes me from my home, makes me miss my kids, my wife, my dogs. I should be happy in Minneapolis, but I keep getting drawn back. I have tried to figure it out... and today I got the flash:
I go there because I think they're doing good work for the world, and I think I can help them.
At one meeting today, I had my agenda, the person showed up, we talked, and within 5 minutes, we had figured out that my questions had been answered. This area will not be impacted by my project (which incidentally is to select a patient monitoring system for the pediatric cardiac cath lab - where they fix kids' hearts). I should have stopped the meeting, but the person said something about their plans for 2012, and I just sat forward in my chair: I think I can help her. I had seen that very thing attempted at my previous client and I just wanted to share some insight. We talked for another 15 minutes pinging around ideas that had nothing to do with my project, but that will hopefully help her deliver HERS more successfully.
Later in the day, we were sitting in a final meeting to determine if our company will help them select a new laboratory and pathology system: The project manager and the lab guy from my team were there - I was there for continuity only - I won't be doing the work. But halfway into the meeting, I felt myself leaning forward in my chair. I couldn't help it. I THINK I CAN HELP THEM. I raised a few questions and found myself wanting to help them solve this problem.
I think there's something about this client that really triggers some sort of endorphin reward for me. I'm not sure it's entirely healthy, but I will say the client seems to really appreciate it. Fear not, I'm not hitting the road here - I have forcibly limited my involvement to every other week, just a few days here and there. But I wanted to share this.
Related topic: In the last 2 years, I have been called upon as an expert in the following subject areas: Digital radiology image storage and review, speech recognition, inpatient electronic medical records, patient registration and billing systems, web-based personal health records, rehab documentation systems, echocardiography review systems, cath lab procedure recording and reporting, long term non-radiology medical image storage, and clinical and financial analytics. And i'm about to learn more about anatomic pathology, pathology slide scanning and retrieval, bedside barcode systems for lab specimen collection, and much more.
I think that these opportunities are amazing, and I'm grateful every day that I'm "allowed" to learn things like this, and become an "expert" as needed. I think I have some pretty unique wiring, and am lucky to have a life that indulges that. Every opportunity to learn and share gives me a boost... and that's probably why Philly is so rewarding.
I've got a meeting with a gang of Cath Lab nurses at 7:30am tomorrow, so it's off to bed.
I go there because I think they're doing good work for the world, and I think I can help them.
At one meeting today, I had my agenda, the person showed up, we talked, and within 5 minutes, we had figured out that my questions had been answered. This area will not be impacted by my project (which incidentally is to select a patient monitoring system for the pediatric cardiac cath lab - where they fix kids' hearts). I should have stopped the meeting, but the person said something about their plans for 2012, and I just sat forward in my chair: I think I can help her. I had seen that very thing attempted at my previous client and I just wanted to share some insight. We talked for another 15 minutes pinging around ideas that had nothing to do with my project, but that will hopefully help her deliver HERS more successfully.
Later in the day, we were sitting in a final meeting to determine if our company will help them select a new laboratory and pathology system: The project manager and the lab guy from my team were there - I was there for continuity only - I won't be doing the work. But halfway into the meeting, I felt myself leaning forward in my chair. I couldn't help it. I THINK I CAN HELP THEM. I raised a few questions and found myself wanting to help them solve this problem.
I think there's something about this client that really triggers some sort of endorphin reward for me. I'm not sure it's entirely healthy, but I will say the client seems to really appreciate it. Fear not, I'm not hitting the road here - I have forcibly limited my involvement to every other week, just a few days here and there. But I wanted to share this.
Related topic: In the last 2 years, I have been called upon as an expert in the following subject areas: Digital radiology image storage and review, speech recognition, inpatient electronic medical records, patient registration and billing systems, web-based personal health records, rehab documentation systems, echocardiography review systems, cath lab procedure recording and reporting, long term non-radiology medical image storage, and clinical and financial analytics. And i'm about to learn more about anatomic pathology, pathology slide scanning and retrieval, bedside barcode systems for lab specimen collection, and much more.
I think that these opportunities are amazing, and I'm grateful every day that I'm "allowed" to learn things like this, and become an "expert" as needed. I think I have some pretty unique wiring, and am lucky to have a life that indulges that. Every opportunity to learn and share gives me a boost... and that's probably why Philly is so rewarding.
I've got a meeting with a gang of Cath Lab nurses at 7:30am tomorrow, so it's off to bed.
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