Thursday, September 28, 2006

Is There a Technician in the House?

Not much happening, these days. The steady dull routine of work has taken on a new dimension of boredom. As I had mentioned earlier, my current project is slowly coming to an end. This means that most of my focus lies in maintaining the level of current production while everyone transitions into some other aspect of the organization. This makes things relatively simple for those who know where they’re going. Most of my technicians are headed towards Apple laptop repair and have taken the test to enter training for that section. There was a week-long training class just to prepare for the exam. On one of the test days, I decided to take the exam, myself, just to see if I could pass it (and also to relate to those who were concerned about the exam content). It was one of those exams where some of the questions had more than one correct answer and you had to choose them all. I’m happy to report that I got an 86% - taking the exam “cold” with no preparation material or having attended the class. Not too shabby, since that score placed me at number 3 for the top scores (the other 2 highest scores were 90% and 92%). I cheated, though – I have an extensive background in computer hardware (not software – as my blog and website can attest to). Anyway, it was just an exercise on my part, since I’ll still remain in management, though I sometimes long for the peace of just me, a bench, a computer to work on and the stars to guide me (like in the “old days” of early PC repair). Enough with the management hassles, meetings, unpaid overtime, etc. – hand me that screwdriver! Ah well.
Last night, though, I had the opportunity to watch one of the “House MD” episodes that I had recorded on the DVR so nicely supplied by Dish Network. For those of you who have yet to catch this series, I would daresay that “House MD” is every bit as good as “24”, but way more cerebral. It almost plays like a mystery\morality exercise for physicians and various other healthcare professionals. Here, we have Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) – a brilliant diagnostic surgeon who has all the antisocial tendencies of a superlatively insightful and accurate healer. I use the term “healer” in the formalized hospital arena sense because the only spirituality present seems to be that which God presents to House in way of opportunities to expand his perceptions beyond the confines of his bitterness (he has a crippling and painful medical condition) and his own endless ego. The pacing is extremely well done and there are quite a few twist s and turns that, while based in cutting edge medical topics, are presented clearly enough not to lose those without a medical background. An amazing accomplishment. The writing is extraordinary. Imagine a child, for instance, with rectal bleeding that states he was abducted by aliens showing two different DNA patterns in his cellular structure. Now imagine that same child showing symptoms of medical issues that seemingly come and go with no observable pattern, at first. And what about that piece of metal lodged inside his neck that he claims is a tracking chip placed by the aliens? Now imagine trying to find a logical medical explanation for all this, while battling pain medication dependency and the possibility of becoming a cripple. That’s “House MD”. Check it out, if you get the chance.

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