As for what I do and what I know, I have no problem recounting that here. I have concluded a long time ago that the mechanisms for finding out information about people based on snippets of information is trivial to those with access to the information, which means the entire government. So there is little in this post they could not glean from a history of my posts and visits, with the tools they have at their disposal.
As a kid, my dad was career Navy, our family saw the world as we traveled with him. When he retired, I went to the same school for two years in a row (a rarity) and graduated high school. I went into the Navy and did a four year tour as an Aviation Machinists Mate, finishing my tour as an E5. I spend a large portion of that enlistment working jobs on the flight deck, as a Plane Captain (Brown Shirt), Machinists Mate (Green Shirt), QC Petty Officer (Green Shirt), and Flight Deck Troubleshooter (White Shirt).
I was selected to work on my last deployment with the representative from Detroit Diesel Allison/Rolls Royce on a special project our squadron was chosen for to develop electronic flight engine monitoring systems for single engine aircraft to predict engine failure in single engine aircraft. This is standard equipment now, but it wasn’t back then.
I went to college to study Chemistry, and ended up getting two degrees, one in Chemistry, one in Nuclear Medicine. I worked clinically for about 10 years before I stepped into the IT world, and using my clinical expertise as a springboard, became involved in all aspects of medical imaging from an IT level. I am already past the age of retirement, but will keep working to finish two projects with my team, who treat me with great deference and respect, almost all of them are just over half my age. I am useful to my employer because of my accumulated knowledge of clinical workflow, billing, troubleshooting, remediation, and medical knowledge in general. It is a valuable combination, even if it is fairly narrowly focused.
As I approach retirement, I am developing other interests and hobbies such as 3D Printing and dictation of audiobooks, not to mention my enjoyment of riding an e-bike for pleasure OFF the roads where there are cars. I am also feeding my reservoir of knowledge on birds and their behavior. I have been a longstanding amateur historian of history in general, and American history in particular.
I have no problem with these statements on a public forum. I try (not always succeeding) to only say things here that I would say to someone’s face in person. Sure. Like many, I have made mistakes and said mean, outrageous and unfeeling things. I regret those those things I have said but know in my heart to be mean or hurtful, and endeavor to remediate them where I can. Those things are out there and can never be taken back, so I try to avoid saying them in the first place, but like many, I am occasionally a slave to my emotion, and not in a flattering way. But I am that way in real life, too.
I am an open book to my friends in real life and my friends online as to my sentiments about current events and our government. I may be ashamed of things I have said, but if ashamed of them, it means that I understand that I was cruel or wrong, and even if it doesn’t matter to the government or many here, it matters to me.
I always attempt to do better.
Wonderful commentary, rlmorel. Your life voyage has taken many turns and touches many fields that don't -- at first glance -- seem to connect with what came before.
So I guess you have what Scott Adams calls a good "multi-talent stack" -- and you showed how it paid off to cross-fertilize knowledge in multiple fields into new opportunities.
My wife and I have been in Japan on a 5-year resident immigrant status for about a month and a half now.
And last week I learned a lesson in "clinical workflow" when I visited the local hospital for some tests.
The doctor prescribed a daily drug and I took his prescription paper to the local drug store. There I was enlightened about a system used in Japan that would have great benefit for use in the U.S.
It's called a 'okusuri techo' or personal prescription record book. It wasn't easy to find an English reference to this, but here is one:
Japanese Pharmacy Basics: Prescription Record Books And Generic Medicine
The idea here is that each person carries with them a small (5" x 6") paper record book to document every single drug prescribed. Entries in the book are done by every pharmacy, not just the one who gave you the booklet. Each prescription in your medical history is printed on a self-stick paper label and pasted in the booklet -- no matter what hospital or drug chain you're using. Here's what it looks like:
So this is my new avocation: to find useful systems like this in Nippon and share what I learned.