My Experience at MHacks

MHacks is a hackathon at the University of Michigan. My company was a sponsor of the event this year, along with larger, more well known companies like Intel, Target and Disney.

I got to participate as a mentor, which basically means that project teams that are looking for technical guidance seek out mentors for assistance.

My specialty is Healthcare IT. There were two project teams that I had the pleasure of working with.

The first was a simple series of web baesd forms that asked some lifestyle questions and asked for the person's height and weight to calculate and display their body mass index (BMI). The actual calculation of BMI would be done in javascript on the web page. It has been over a decade since I did any web based programming, so I sent this team off to find some web based developers to get the syntax right.

The second team was more ambitious. They wanted to have web forms/apps that allowed a patient to update their demographic information and to schedule a visit with a doctor. I outlined the basic standards that support these data exchanges and then showed them the FHIR resources that were available to support this exchange. There are a couple of test servers out there that you can exchange with and they were going to use those as the back end for their app. I told them to emphasize that their solution was "standards based."

All in all, it was a very cool experience to see so many young people who are enthusiastic about technology.

It's all about how you recover

There is a lyric from Marillion that goes like this:

Failure isn't about falling down,
Failure is staying down.

I am in a leadership role in my present job. I work with a team of developers in the role of EDI Architect. We primarily move data between our internal systems and external trading partners.

One member of the team is a Senior Developer with lots of mainframe experience who is very new to the technology that we are using as our interface engine. This engine has a visually based development environment that can be challenging for a traditional "looking at code" developer to get comfortable with.

This week we promoted the first of his projects to production. The next day we realized that we had configured things wrong. He got very flustered. I told him to take a few deep breaths and then sit down with me while we figured it out. I told him that we needed to make sure that the change that we made was correct and that that was more important than making the change quickly.

We sat down and analyzed the problem and came up with a solution that we both agreed with. When we made this change, I brought each component up one at a time to make sure that they functioned as expected. We looked at the data flows and verified that they functioned correctly.

When we got done, I told him "We all make mistakes. It's all about how you recover."

I have now added a couple more things to the list of things that I look at when promoting to production. Hopefully, we both learned something.

My (almost) Annual Stanley Cup Predictions

Every year I look at the sixteen teams that are in the Stanley Cup playoffs and try to pick the winners.

I use a process of elimination. Single line teams or teams with suspect goaltending can be eliminated rather easily. This usually winnows the two conferences down to two or three teams. Then the fun starts.

So, here is my analysis by conference.

Starting with the Eastern Conference. We can expect that the Penguins, Red Wings and Islanders will be eliminated rather easily in the first round. None of these teams have the goaltending and balanced scoring that are required to make a long playoff run. That has Tampa Bay, the Rangers and Washington advancing to the second round. The Montreal and Ottawa series is interesting. The Canadians should advance, but I wouldn't put anything past Hammond. The Senators may be this years Cinderella team.

In the second round, I expect the Rangers to advance against the Capitals. The Tampa Bay and Montreal match up is a toss up. That would put the Rangers against either the Lightning or the Canadians. I expect the Rangers to advance to the Cup Finals from the East. They have the goaltending and experience to advance.

Now, for the Western Conference. The West is very strong this year. I am picking St. Louis, Nashville, Winnipeg and Calgary to advance out of the first round. The deciding criteria are, once again, goaltending, balanced scoring and experience. I have Nashville and Winnipeg advancing to the Conference Finals and Nashville advancing to the Cup Finals from the West.

That would give us the New York Rangers against the Nashville Predators in the Stanley Cup finals and I expect the Ranger's experience to prevail.

You can laugh at my predictions over the next two months.

Plans

My favorite quote about plans is from Helmut Von Moltke, who was Chief of the German General Staff during Bismark's era and defeated the French during the Franco-Prussian war, which led to the unification of Germany.

No Plan Survives Contact with the Enemy.

My variant on this is that "No Plan Survives Contact with Reality."

This maxim has served me well.

There is another interesting quote from von Moltke's nephew who was also named Helmut von Moltke. The younger served as Chief of the German General Staff at the beginning of the First World War. The Germans had an elaborate plan for going to war. It involved concentrating all of their forces against the French to quickly defeat them and then those forces would turn and deal with the Russians. This was an elaborate plan that involved railway schedules and was very German in its detail.

The Kaiser was convinced that he could keep the French out of the war and Germany would just have Russia to deal with. The Kaiser called von Moltke in for a meeting and told him that Germany did not need to go to war with France. Just turn the army around and we will go to war with Russia, instead. The response from von Moltke was:

Your Majesty, the movements of millions are not improvised. 

The German General Staff had a plan and they were going to stick to it. There was no contingency for going to war with Russia and not France. 

The Kaiser replied, "Your uncle would have given me a different answer."

von Moltke the younger was always being measured against his uncle. 

Anyway, Germany went to war with both France and Russia, just as they planned it. This plan involved crossing through Belgium, which meant that Britain joined the war. The rest is, as they say, history. 

Favorite Albums of 2012

I bought more albums in 2012 than I remember buying lately. I downloaded some and actually purchased discs of several. Here are my favorites that were released in 2012, in no particular order.

Genesis Revisited 2 -- Steve Hackett

This is a double disc set of mostly classic Genesis tunes that Steve has re-recorded. They stay mostly true to the originals. There are several of Steve's solo tunes from that era included.

Clockwork Angels -- Rush

It's hard to argue with Rush. These tunes are more rock and less prog, but I like them.

Sounds that Can't be Made -- Marillion

The band playes a bit more rock-like on this disc than on some recent efforts. H stil mumbles too much. I haven't bothered to look at the insert to see what he is supposed to be singing.

And The Band Played On - Music Played on the Titanic -- I Salonisti

This disc includes songs that were played on the Titanic's ill fated voyage. It's a nice way to hear the soundtrack of the doomed.

Masterworks -- California Guitar Trio

This is a nice collection of classical pieces given the CGT treatment. Very nice. The disc showcases the CGT's superb musicianship. Tony Levin plays upright bass and cello on three tracks.

Sea of Smiles -- Squackett

Steve Hacket and Chris Squire team up for some near prog. The combination is nice and works well. This disc does not rank up there with the best of their work with Genesis or Yes, but it is worth listening to.

Live Blood -- Peter Gabriel

These are versions of some of Peter's songs performed with an orchestra and not his usual band. There are some interesting interpretations of his songs on here.

Forbidden Planet -- Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

This is a re-release of the music from the classic film. I quite like this. I had forgotten how much the soundtrack added to the film.

All the Wars -- The Pineapple Thief

This is another nice collection of prog songs from The Pineapple Thief.

Sceneries -- Sylvan

More nice prog from Sylvan. Each song is presented in three or four parts. They range from mellow to rockin'.

Still More Stupid CCD Tricks

It has been a while since I posted one of these. Here are some mis-coded vital sign observations.

These developers do not understand the physical quantity data type. The bad values are highlighted. They also do not know how to validate a document against the cda schema, because this one fails.


<entry typeCode="DRIV">
<organizer classCode="CLUSTER" moodCode="EVN">
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.10.20.1.35"/>
<templateId root="1.3.6.1.4.1.19376.1.5.3.1.4.13.1"/>
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.10.20.1.32"/>
<id root="36e3e930-7b14-11db-9fe1-0800200c9a66"/>
<code code="46680005" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.6.96" codeSystemName="SNOMED CT" displayName="Vital signs"/>
<statusCode code="completed"/>
<effectiveTime value="20120604"/>
<component>
<observation classCode="OBS" moodCode="EVN">
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.10.20.1.31"/>
<templateId root="1.3.6.1.4.1.19376.1.5.3.1.4.13"/>
<templateId root="1.3.6.1.4.1.19376.1.5.3.1.4.13.2"/>
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.3.88.11.83.14"/>
<id root="36e3e930-7b14-11db-9fe1-0800200c9a66"/>
<code code="8302-2" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.6.1" codeSystemName="LOINC" displayName="Height"/>
<text>
<reference value="#vital0"/>
</text>
<statusCode code="completed"/>
<effectiveTime value="20120604"/>
<value unit="[in_us]" value="63inches" xsi:type="PQ"/>
</observation>
</component>
<component>
<observation classCode="OBS" moodCode="EVN">
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.10.20.1.31"/>
<templateId root="1.3.6.1.4.1.19376.1.5.3.1.4.13"/>
<templateId root="1.3.6.1.4.1.19376.1.5.3.1.4.13.2"/>
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.3.88.11.83.14"/>
<id root="36e3e930-7b14-11db-9fe1-0800200c9a66"/>
<code code="3141-9" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.6.1" codeSystemName="LOINC" displayName="Weight"/>
<text>
<reference value="#vital4"/>
</text>
<statusCode code="completed"/>
<effectiveTime value="20120604"/>
<value unit="[lb_av]" value="154lbs" xsi:type="PQ"/>
</observation>
</component>
<component>
<observation classCode="OBS" moodCode="EVN">
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.10.20.1.31"/>
<templateId root="1.3.6.1.4.1.19376.1.5.3.1.4.13"/>
<templateId root="1.3.6.1.4.1.19376.1.5.3.1.4.13.2"/>
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.3.88.11.83.14"/>
<id root="36e3e930-7b14-11db-9fe1-0800200c9a66"/>
<code code="8310-5" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.6.1" codeSystemName="LOINC" displayName="Temperature"/>
<text>
<reference value="#vital12"/>
</text>
<statusCode code="completed"/>
<effectiveTime value="20120604"/>
<value unit="[degF]" value="98" xsi:type="PQ"/>
</observation>
</component>
<component>
<observation classCode="OBS" moodCode="EVN">
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.10.20.1.31"/>
<templateId root="1.3.6.1.4.1.19376.1.5.3.1.4.13"/>
<templateId root="1.3.6.1.4.1.19376.1.5.3.1.4.13.2"/>
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.3.88.11.83.14"/>
<id root="36e3e930-7b14-11db-9fe1-0800200c9a66"/>
<code code="8480-6" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.6.1" codeSystemName="LOINC" displayName="Blood Pressure Systolic"/>
<text>
<reference value="#vital16"/>
</text>
<statusCode code="completed"/>
<effectiveTime value="20120604"/>
<value unit="mm[Hg]" value="right 120" xsi:type="PQ"/>
</observation>
</component>
<component>
<observation classCode="OBS" moodCode="EVN">
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.10.20.1.31"/>
<templateId root="1.3.6.1.4.1.19376.1.5.3.1.4.13"/>
<templateId root="1.3.6.1.4.1.19376.1.5.3.1.4.13.2"/>
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.3.88.11.83.14"/>
<id root="36e3e930-7b14-11db-9fe1-0800200c9a66"/>
<code code="8462-4" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.6.1" codeSystemName="LOINC" displayName="Blood Pressure Diastolic"/>
<text>
<reference value="#vital20"/>
</text>
<statusCode code="completed"/>
<effectiveTime value="20120604"/>
<value unit="mm[Hg]" value="80 and left 110" xsi:type="PQ"/>
</observation>
</component>

Sonny

My dog, Sonny, has cancer. At least it looks that way. The docs still need to perform a test on the growth on the inside of his mouth to confirm the diagnosis. The growth is exerting pressure on his left eye, so it has probably spread beyond his mouth. That concerns me because if the growth is now in the inside of his skull, that would be very serious.

He has had growths on the eyelid of his left eye before. They irritate the eye. When they have been on the outside of the eyelid, I scrape them off with a q-tip. He had surgery on this eye a couple of years ago to remove a growth when I could not remove it by myself.

He had an issue with this eye two months ago and it did get better after treatment. I left him with my folks while I was out of town on business, and the eye got worse during that time.

I had intended to take him to his regular vet this week, but I will have to be out of town. So, we went to an emergency clinic today to have it looked at. They gave me some fluids to apply to his eye and some drugs to try to reduce the swelling and help with the pain.

I adopted Sonny from Brittany Rescue twelve years ago. He is my best buddy.

I still remember looking at his picture on the BR website before I met him. He looked very happy. I thought he was covered in mud, but realized later that it was just brown spots on his front paws.

When I went out to adopt him, he knew that if he passed the audition, he would get the gig and get to leave his foster home. He was out in the back yard by himself, while the rest of the dogs looked on jealously from their kennels. He was so happy to be loved. He was two years old then. He had been adopted by a family as a puppy, but they gave him up because he was too energetic for them. If I recall the story correctly, he had been placed in at least one other home and was returned because he was too rambunctious for them.

They told me that he would be very happy when he was tired. I added "and wet" to that guidance, because Sonny was always extremely happy when he was tired and wet. In those days, we would walk for an hour a day, six or seven days a week. I would take him on walks where he could swim. He loved the water and would quite literally drag me down to the waters edge so that he could jump in.

He is a house dog, but acts like a hunting dog when we are outside. He would point bunnies and birds. I had never seen a dog point before. He looked just like the pointing scenes that you see in paintings.

He loved to go camping and hiking throughout the woods in Michigan's forests. And, of course, whenever we got to a lake or a stream or a river he would dive right in. He knew what it meant when I would start packing the camping gear in to the car and would leap in to the front seat in eager anticipation of the long car ride to the adventures to come.

He was very afraid of loud noises, like fireworks or thunder until he got older and deafer. He would curl up at my feet and shiver with fear during thunderstorms.

Sonny loved popcorn and would sit next to me while I watched a movie or a hockey game. I would put a few kernels in my hand and he would eat quite happily eat them.

I'm trying to focus on remembering the wonderful life that Sonny has had with me. I am worried about losing my buddy.