Regrouping

Matt and I just had a good session. We've been friends since age six. He was the main guy I introduced Applewhites to, when Ed and Jean came to visit, along with Harold Long, the Frank Lloyd Wright trained architect.

I pumped him for info on what's happening domestically, as I'm off in Asia somewhere much of the time, tracking threads of no interest to CNN or like that. Some satellites collided? Fancy that. Panetta got through? Cool with that. What else? Oh, the stimulus package passed, even in the House.

Of course I do care about domestic affairs, duh, given I live and breath here, have a family, run a small business, so far in good standing with all the authorities and so forth. I'm Joe the Plumber in some ways, although in Portland it's hard to decipher what that means.

But wait, I can explain myself. I champion Chamber of Commerce family values in that I want junior to grow up knowing how to program, not just how to wash dishes or dress hair. "Learn some Python, Luke" (i.e. use the force). That's like Mr. Silicon Forest speaking ("obey one" -- joke). So like check out this post of earlier today to math-thinking-l, a moribund list with probably zero readers. But hey, there's an archive, and maybe the URLs won't break right away?

Thanks for a really cogent write-up Michelle, a synopsis of our recent PPUG meeting. I mentioned you in an internal memo recently, as a poster child for our thriving Open Source culture, our Django, our Ruby, even our twisted older brother PHP.

These tools are a godsend in health care I'd say, where record keeping is not just some afterthought. How're you supposed to devise a course of treatment for some patient, if you don't have a chart?

Most Hollywood movies about doctors without borders (heroes to be sure) get it wrong. You can't just line 'em up and give 'em shots (baby cries), a pat on the head (the mom smiles). You need to start a medical record and keep a chronology, or it's not really the practice of medicine, is just some stupid movie. Medicine without record keeping is either quackery or too much like a battlefield to be considered a real hospital in any way.

We moved furniture, Matt and I, talked about our various friendships over the years. We've both known lots of people, have our stories. We're starting to sound more like "old people" I'm afraid i.e. there's lots in that rear view mirror, quite the "long strange trip" as we say.