I'm in Chicago on business which means that I went to Second City last night (I'm a HUGE SC fan, which also explains why I am a HUGE SNL fan . . .).
The cast was the same as the last time I was here almost a year ago, and while they are all excellent, there is one who stood out both last year and last night. His name is Ithamar Enriquez and I believe he is one of the most talented comedic actor/writers and improv artists that I have ever seen. I want it documented here first so that it will show up in Google searches for posterity that I predict big things for Ithamar.
I also want to meet him to know how to pronounce his first name.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
My Daughter, The Boxer
We don't have video games in our house (a rule) so when the kids go to a friend's house that does have them, it becomes a key area of interest and activity.
Molly's friend Hannah has a Nintendo Wii. Apparently, there is a boxing game with which Molly has become enamored and, it turns out, she's pretty good at it. She loves bragging that she's an excellent boxer.
I have started calling her Mohammed Mah-lee.
Molly's friend Hannah has a Nintendo Wii. Apparently, there is a boxing game with which Molly has become enamored and, it turns out, she's pretty good at it. She loves bragging that she's an excellent boxer.
I have started calling her Mohammed Mah-lee.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Little Things Make Me Happy
Warning - This is probably of interest only to those who appreciate good design or gadgets.
It's true. Little things make me happy and especially when it is a seemingly little thing but one that makes a big difference to me, and one for which I would love to shake the hand of the person that thought it up.
On my old Blackberry, if a call came in while I was listening to my cell phone voicemail, the device would treat it like any other call waiting call and give me the option to ignore it, place the first call on hold and answer, or drop the first call and answer.
I got a new Blackberry Curve (8300) a few months ago and the other day while listening to my voicemail, another call came in. The device did not, however, treat it as a call waiting call, but rather as a regular call with no options for the first call. Since it was a call I wanted to take, I answered, assuming that it would just disconnect my voicemail session.
When finished with the call that had come in, I noticed that my voicemail call was still there in a suspended state. I resumed the call and the message I had been listening to started again from exactly where I had left off.
What this means is that someone at RIM got together with someone at AT&T and said, "Hey, how can we make this easier and more intuitive for the user?" Bravo!
It's true. Little things make me happy and especially when it is a seemingly little thing but one that makes a big difference to me, and one for which I would love to shake the hand of the person that thought it up.
On my old Blackberry, if a call came in while I was listening to my cell phone voicemail, the device would treat it like any other call waiting call and give me the option to ignore it, place the first call on hold and answer, or drop the first call and answer.
I got a new Blackberry Curve (8300) a few months ago and the other day while listening to my voicemail, another call came in. The device did not, however, treat it as a call waiting call, but rather as a regular call with no options for the first call. Since it was a call I wanted to take, I answered, assuming that it would just disconnect my voicemail session.
When finished with the call that had come in, I noticed that my voicemail call was still there in a suspended state. I resumed the call and the message I had been listening to started again from exactly where I had left off.
What this means is that someone at RIM got together with someone at AT&T and said, "Hey, how can we make this easier and more intuitive for the user?" Bravo!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Anjelica's Maracas
Sam just started fourth grade. I have distinct memories of my own fourth grade experience, that being the turning point for me when I realized that I didn't hate girls, but was strangely attracted to them yet I didn't know why. I was expecting something similar of Sam, though he has never gone through a "I hate girls" stage and is, instead, friendly with many of his female classmates.
On the first day of school last week, Sam told us that his friend Anjelica came up to him and very matter of factly announced that she was wearing a bra. Sam related this story in a somewhat puzzled manner because he had no idea how he was supposed to react or what to do with this information. He was truly bewildered and we were more than just a bit amused by the situation.
A couple of days later, Sam was telling us about music class, and how all the students were using different percussion instruments. I jokingly asked if Anjelica was shaking her maracas. This reference went right over his head and he simply responded that Anjelica is not in his music class. Seven-year old Molly, however, got it right away and started giggling. Ever since, she turns to Sammy every so often and while doing a top-body shimmy, asks if Anjelica has been shaking her maracas at him.
What have I created?
On the first day of school last week, Sam told us that his friend Anjelica came up to him and very matter of factly announced that she was wearing a bra. Sam related this story in a somewhat puzzled manner because he had no idea how he was supposed to react or what to do with this information. He was truly bewildered and we were more than just a bit amused by the situation.
A couple of days later, Sam was telling us about music class, and how all the students were using different percussion instruments. I jokingly asked if Anjelica was shaking her maracas. This reference went right over his head and he simply responded that Anjelica is not in his music class. Seven-year old Molly, however, got it right away and started giggling. Ever since, she turns to Sammy every so often and while doing a top-body shimmy, asks if Anjelica has been shaking her maracas at him.
What have I created?
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Report from Dubai - Day Three/Final Report
I forgot to mention in my last post that part of the conversation last night was around Arab-American perspectives. I was told that Arabs used to love going to the US for vacations but since 9/11 they have, for the most part, not returned due to the way that they were being treated. They found that they were being reported as suspicious simply for speaking Arabic in public. They also said that one of the reasons Muslim women would not fly was because they knew that some US airports employed x-ray machines that revealed a woman’s body. Not only did I state that I knew of no such devices in use, one of the physicians backed me up saying that such a machine would provide a view of a skeleton and any metal objects, but that the form of the body could not be discerned. The person who originally made the statement was suspicious about our responses and we quickly moved on to another topic.
This third and last day of my trip to Dubai was by far the best, and it had less to do with the conference than what transpired afterwards. Yes, I did have some good meetings including with the Saudi German Hospitals Group – the largest private healthcare company in the Middle East and North Africa – and two wonderful people from Jebel Ali Hospital with whom I then had lunch at the same Iranian restaurant in the hotel as where I had dinner last night (dinner was better, though I did get to have some very tasty Iranian desserts at lunch). But the invitation to visit a hospital and the subsequent dinner was the highlight.
I had initially pegged Zulekha Hospital as a potential target, but I came to realize that they really wanted just to pick my brain about some things that they were considering and to get some education on a particular area of my expertise. That was fine because what I got in return was worth it.
The tour of the hospital covered just about every inch of the facility. They are very proud of this 80-bed private hospital and the mission that it serves – and rightly so. Lead by the IT director and the director of the hospital, we saw the outpatient departments, the clinical laboratory, registration/admitting, the emergency department, patient rooms, nursing stations, the pharmacy, one of the operating rooms and the cardiac catheterization lab. It was a rare opportunity to get such an in-depth peek at a foreign hospital and being a hospital person, I not only enjoyed it all, but learned much about how healthcare is delivered in this country in the process, including a very different role for pharmacists than those that work in hospitals in the US. We then spent about an hour looking over their impressive IT infrastructure and the self-developed hospital information system that they have implemented. In that process I also learned all about the payment and reimbursement process in the country – also invaluable. We then had a long discussion about CPOE and closed loop medication processes (I don’t expect you to know what that is, and there is no simple way to explain it) with the director of the hospital, the chief pharmacist, another administrator and a physician. I figure that I gave them about an hour or two of free consulting but it was worth it given what I learned during my time there. It was positively delightful as they were so proud to show off their hospital to a knowledgeable and appreciative audience.
I should mention at this point that approximately 40% of the population of the UAE is Indian, as were all of the people that I was with, and it is this population that the hospital primarily serves. Dr. Zulekha, the founder and owner of the now two-hospital company which is also expanding in the UAE and into India, is an OB/GYN who started practicing in the early 1960’s, delivering babies by lantern light as their mothers arrived by camel. She went on to start a primary care clinic and eventually decided that high-quality, reasonably priced healthcare was needed by the Indian population so she started the hospital to serve them, with a strong focus on the patient experience. While she is still involved, her daughter and son-in-law now run the company.
In gratitude for my time, Ali – the late 20-something IT director – then took me out for one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I have always maintained that some of the best food can be found in dives and the place we went can only be described as a stand-up luncheonette counter outside a supermarket in one of the Indian sections of town. Ali just kept ordering different things, some of which I knew of, others I didn’t recognize and couldn’t pronounce so I can’t tell you what they were except that they were, for the most part, fried, spicy and delicious. Ali just kept saying “try this,” “hold it this way,” (everything was eaten by hand), “dip it in this sauce and then in this sauce,” etc. As I was still in my suit and it was about 100 degrees and humid – even in the dark of evening – he kept plying me with water and napkins with which to wipe my head. I think the whole meal cost about $7 for both of us.
It was a very nice way to wrap up my trip here. Had I known, I certainly would have stayed longer as I did not get to see most of the tourist sights and I am told that one of the best things to do is a late day 4X4 ride into the desert to a Bedouin tent where there is live music, belly dancing, camel rides and a feast fit for a king as you watch the sunset. If I come back, I will definitely try that experience. In the mean time, it is off to bed with a satisfied belly and then to the airport in the morning for the long journey home. All in all, it was a short but successful (I hope – the truth will be told in whether my meetings convert to signed contracts) trip to a strange and far off land to which I hope to someday return.
This third and last day of my trip to Dubai was by far the best, and it had less to do with the conference than what transpired afterwards. Yes, I did have some good meetings including with the Saudi German Hospitals Group – the largest private healthcare company in the Middle East and North Africa – and two wonderful people from Jebel Ali Hospital with whom I then had lunch at the same Iranian restaurant in the hotel as where I had dinner last night (dinner was better, though I did get to have some very tasty Iranian desserts at lunch). But the invitation to visit a hospital and the subsequent dinner was the highlight.
I had initially pegged Zulekha Hospital as a potential target, but I came to realize that they really wanted just to pick my brain about some things that they were considering and to get some education on a particular area of my expertise. That was fine because what I got in return was worth it.
The tour of the hospital covered just about every inch of the facility. They are very proud of this 80-bed private hospital and the mission that it serves – and rightly so. Lead by the IT director and the director of the hospital, we saw the outpatient departments, the clinical laboratory, registration/admitting, the emergency department, patient rooms, nursing stations, the pharmacy, one of the operating rooms and the cardiac catheterization lab. It was a rare opportunity to get such an in-depth peek at a foreign hospital and being a hospital person, I not only enjoyed it all, but learned much about how healthcare is delivered in this country in the process, including a very different role for pharmacists than those that work in hospitals in the US. We then spent about an hour looking over their impressive IT infrastructure and the self-developed hospital information system that they have implemented. In that process I also learned all about the payment and reimbursement process in the country – also invaluable. We then had a long discussion about CPOE and closed loop medication processes (I don’t expect you to know what that is, and there is no simple way to explain it) with the director of the hospital, the chief pharmacist, another administrator and a physician. I figure that I gave them about an hour or two of free consulting but it was worth it given what I learned during my time there. It was positively delightful as they were so proud to show off their hospital to a knowledgeable and appreciative audience.
I should mention at this point that approximately 40% of the population of the UAE is Indian, as were all of the people that I was with, and it is this population that the hospital primarily serves. Dr. Zulekha, the founder and owner of the now two-hospital company which is also expanding in the UAE and into India, is an OB/GYN who started practicing in the early 1960’s, delivering babies by lantern light as their mothers arrived by camel. She went on to start a primary care clinic and eventually decided that high-quality, reasonably priced healthcare was needed by the Indian population so she started the hospital to serve them, with a strong focus on the patient experience. While she is still involved, her daughter and son-in-law now run the company.
In gratitude for my time, Ali – the late 20-something IT director – then took me out for one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I have always maintained that some of the best food can be found in dives and the place we went can only be described as a stand-up luncheonette counter outside a supermarket in one of the Indian sections of town. Ali just kept ordering different things, some of which I knew of, others I didn’t recognize and couldn’t pronounce so I can’t tell you what they were except that they were, for the most part, fried, spicy and delicious. Ali just kept saying “try this,” “hold it this way,” (everything was eaten by hand), “dip it in this sauce and then in this sauce,” etc. As I was still in my suit and it was about 100 degrees and humid – even in the dark of evening – he kept plying me with water and napkins with which to wipe my head. I think the whole meal cost about $7 for both of us.
It was a very nice way to wrap up my trip here. Had I known, I certainly would have stayed longer as I did not get to see most of the tourist sights and I am told that one of the best things to do is a late day 4X4 ride into the desert to a Bedouin tent where there is live music, belly dancing, camel rides and a feast fit for a king as you watch the sunset. If I come back, I will definitely try that experience. In the mean time, it is off to bed with a satisfied belly and then to the airport in the morning for the long journey home. All in all, it was a short but successful (I hope – the truth will be told in whether my meetings convert to signed contracts) trip to a strange and far off land to which I hope to someday return.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Report from Dubai - Day Two, Part 2
Had dinner at Shahrzad last night, the Iranian restaurant here at the Hyatt. When you walk in, you feel as if you are taking a step back in time to a Bedouin tent with live music. Since everyone keeps asking me about the food, I will report that I had a wonderful soup called Ash-e-Adas which is a lentil soup with leeks, some cream and fresh squeezed lemon juice. The main course was Gheymeh Bademjan which is a traditional stew of lamb with yellow lentils, tomatoes, and topped with crispy fried eggplant served over scented rice. Delish! They also had shisha pipes available (also knows as hookahs) with various flavors available (apple, rose, others) but we did not partake.
Lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me so it’s a good thing today is the last day of the conference though it promises to be a long day since I will be going out with the folks from Zulekah Hospital after the conference ends. It is the start of their weekend and typical Arab evenings go late into the night so who knows when I will get in tonight.
Lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me so it’s a good thing today is the last day of the conference though it promises to be a long day since I will be going out with the folks from Zulekah Hospital after the conference ends. It is the start of their weekend and typical Arab evenings go late into the night so who knows when I will get in tonight.
Report from Dubai - Day Two
Today was a work day – the first day of the congress I am attending which was kicked off by the Minister of Health for the United Arab Emirates. It was very formal – there was a red ribbon across the door of the ballroom where the opening session was held which was ceremoniously cut with silver scissors by the Minister upon his arrival.
It was very interesting and much of what I had read in “Understanding Arabs” paid off in terms of knowing how to interact. One of the pointers is that Arabs will not do business with you unless they get to know and like you. One of my meetings was with 4 administrators from a hospital group in the UAE. Afterwards I wasn’t sure how it had gone but I must have done something right as they tracked me down later to invite me to see their hospital tomorrow afternoon when the conference ends and then out to dinner. Especially nice as their weekend starts Thursday night.
I also met with a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that will may likely lead to some work over there, and I am having dinner tonight with 4 medical directors from the Ministry of Health.
I also had a chance to meet with some of the other solution providers. In the US and particularly in the Northeast, everyone in my industry knows most of the other people. This concept has now extended around the globe as I found one person with whom we know 3 people in common and another who grew up on 73rd Street and Central Park West. Small world!
Not a bad day at all.
On the food front, the breakfast buffet here is nothing like I have ever experienced. As they must cater to Middle Eastern, Western, and Asian tastes there was a grand selection of items, some of which I had never heard of and fruits that I had never seen. Don’t ask me what anything was – it was just delicious.
The conference’s lunch was at the hotel’s Italian restaurant and while nice and tasty, nothing to write home about (or blog about).
Dinner tonight will be at the hotel’s Iranian restaurant which is highly regarded in Dubai both for the food and the atmosphere. Aside from the 4 docs, I will also be joined by the managing partner of our affiliate firm here in Dubai. That actually led to another interesting tid-bit. I let the managing partner know what I looked like and what I would be wearing so that we could find each other in the lobby of the hotel. He responded with what he looked like and simply that he would be wearing a suit - as opposed to the traditional white garment and headress.
All in all a good day and I’m looking forward to a good dinner. Am starting to get just a wee bit tired so it is a good thing that Muslims do not drink – otherwise I would probably pass out half way through dinner as the lack of sleep starts to catch up with me.
It was very interesting and much of what I had read in “Understanding Arabs” paid off in terms of knowing how to interact. One of the pointers is that Arabs will not do business with you unless they get to know and like you. One of my meetings was with 4 administrators from a hospital group in the UAE. Afterwards I wasn’t sure how it had gone but I must have done something right as they tracked me down later to invite me to see their hospital tomorrow afternoon when the conference ends and then out to dinner. Especially nice as their weekend starts Thursday night.
I also met with a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that will may likely lead to some work over there, and I am having dinner tonight with 4 medical directors from the Ministry of Health.
I also had a chance to meet with some of the other solution providers. In the US and particularly in the Northeast, everyone in my industry knows most of the other people. This concept has now extended around the globe as I found one person with whom we know 3 people in common and another who grew up on 73rd Street and Central Park West. Small world!
Not a bad day at all.
On the food front, the breakfast buffet here is nothing like I have ever experienced. As they must cater to Middle Eastern, Western, and Asian tastes there was a grand selection of items, some of which I had never heard of and fruits that I had never seen. Don’t ask me what anything was – it was just delicious.
The conference’s lunch was at the hotel’s Italian restaurant and while nice and tasty, nothing to write home about (or blog about).
Dinner tonight will be at the hotel’s Iranian restaurant which is highly regarded in Dubai both for the food and the atmosphere. Aside from the 4 docs, I will also be joined by the managing partner of our affiliate firm here in Dubai. That actually led to another interesting tid-bit. I let the managing partner know what I looked like and what I would be wearing so that we could find each other in the lobby of the hotel. He responded with what he looked like and simply that he would be wearing a suit - as opposed to the traditional white garment and headress.
All in all a good day and I’m looking forward to a good dinner. Am starting to get just a wee bit tired so it is a good thing that Muslims do not drink – otherwise I would probably pass out half way through dinner as the lack of sleep starts to catch up with me.
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