Today's Lunch Break:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/using-technology-to-skip-the-doctors-office/

My grandfather, a retired pediatrician who shares my first and last name, speaks fondly about going on house calls, black doctor bag in hand, to checkup on children and calm worried parents. In the past few years, I have run into multiple people who, upon recognizing our shared name, speaks of him in glowing terms like "my doctor" or "our pediatrician." My grandfather says that such relationships were the most rewarding aspects of his career.

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Today's Lunch Break:
http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001426.html

I've had several jobs that required getting CPR training. You sit there in a classroom (usually a freezing one) and spend your day learning how to do chest compressions and how that cracking sound is supposed to happen.

Even though I've been certified at least three times, I couldn't tell you how to do it properly, much less actually perform CPR.

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Today's Lunch Break:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/obama-calls-for-overhaul-of-education-system/

I have many friends in the teaching field, and as this can be an emotionally loaded subject, my apologies if I offend. Let me first say that I truly admire what you do.

Certainly the problems in our school systems have no simple solutions. As for me, I generally support (and all opinions of mine are subject to change, given additional facts and added perspective) charter schools, school vouchers, magnet programs, and merit-based pay. However, I don't pretend that any one of these is a silver bullet, or that they should be applied uniformly across the board[1].

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Today's Lunch Break:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/01/03/opinion/1194837193498/the-face-of-slavery.html

I was at a meeting recently where a man said, "I don't believe anything written in the New York Times."

Recognizing the obvious politics behind his comment, I bit my tongue, but I wanted to say "Please, have your own political views, by all means, but have you read the Times? Do you know what fantastic content they have, even if you never touched an article about politics?" [1]

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It's Friday. Spring has finally come to Maryland. I'm off to an Italian restaurant for an office birthday lunch. It's a good day.

Today's Lunch Break:
http://xkcd.com/552/

Today's Lunch Break:
http://www.internationalwomensday.com

This started as an email to Elliott this morning, just as a subtle hint. And then I thought, women out there will be glad to know about another holiday acknowledging their contributions (and requiring flowers and small gifts). And I also thought, men out there will be glad to know about another opportunity to acknowledge women (and requiring them to give flowers and small gifts). Such a win-win.

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