H1B - "The Genius Visa"

Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist that graduated top student of his class from Harvard. He is well known in the media guest speaking on multiple news stations (CNN, MSN, FOX) and has a regular occurrence on the television channel "The Science Channel". I have found none better to enjoy listening and learning about nearly any academic topic. The man is a genius - not only for his mental flex but his ability to relate complex information into simple comprehension.

Here is a video of an opinion he gives about America's education system and the 'weapon' H1B. You can also watch this second video as he is in debate about America's education system.

"People with great minds talk about ideas, people with average minds talk about events, and people with small minds talk about other people." - Unknown

Password Security Pain

Passwords, passwords, and more passwords. Internet security is frustrating. Not only do I have a different password for every account online but I elect to change them frequently. My college requires frequent password updates and remembers old passwords not to be used again. Passwords are becoming a real pain. ...

First Steps... again

After surgery this is my left foot since February 8th... permanently. The procedure was about 45 minutes while I was under anesthetic for no more than an hour and half. There's a titanium plate on the outside of my left calcaneous bone (heel) and secured in place by 9 titanium screws into the bone. It's been over 5 months and I have almost recovered completely. I'm very optimistic to be back full 100% by the end of 2012. I hardly think about my foot anymore but the metal is a real pain to deal with at airport security.

... Here's the story:

The final weekend of January, with some friends I broke my left foot skateboarding leaping off a 5 foot drop off in a parking lot. I knew immediately that my foot had broke. Stubbornly, I refused to go to the hospital even though I couldn't put my foot at rest on the ground . After several hours of no sleep, growing pain and swelling I decided to go to my Kaiser medical care center to get x-rays. 

The x-rays showed a possible hair-line fracture toward the upper heel region (imagine where the Achilles tendon attaches to the heel bone). The doctor insisted I go to a specialist the next day and ordered me a CT scan on my foot for better results. He mentioned there could be possible surgery because of the location next to the tendon.

 The next day at the Podiatrist office, waiting for what seemed too long, Dr. Tucker leaned through the crack in the door and said, "Hi, I'm Dr. Tucker, I just finished looking and your CT scan and... well, I'm going to finish with this other patient first. You and I need to talk about a lot."

What I learned was that the CT scan (which I have on CD - very cool) showed not only a hair-line fracture but that my heel bone (known as "calcaneus bone") was crushed and split from the top down into, we counted, 7 fractures. Dr. Tucker went on to explain that the nature of the fracture had realigned my heel bone to the ankle joint because the heel bone expanded from impact. Without proper realignment I would never be able to stand again without severe pain. "The calcaneus bone needed to be squeezed back together to realign the joint with the ankle," he said.

 Basically, what he went on to explain was that the surgery was going to place a custom titanium plate and 9 screws on the outside of my left foot to pull the fractured pieces back together and realign the joint properly. I laugh now but that will always be a moment I remember feeling instant regret. I had to spend 2 weeks with my foot raised and then another 6 weeks on crutches. After 8 weeks I began the slow grueling physical therapy. By mid-May I was walking normally.