Frank Armitage Lecture-Day 1

Well today was the day - the beginning of the 2009 Frank Armitage Lecture that our Biomedical Visualization graduate program. It seems like just yesterday I was building the website for the event. I swear, this semester has to slow down! Anyway, I wanted to be prepared for the morning and be on-time and put-together for the event so I picked out my outfit the night before and everything else was ready to go for the smoothest morning possible.... of course that didn't happen. When my alarm went off in the morning, I realized it went off too early so I set it for a later time.... too bad I turned it off and ended up waking up at 8 instead of 7. Well, I guess I will just have to take a cab again. Annoying, but still on time. I hop in the shower and get ready to look presentable-professional and I'm out the door with coffee-in-hand on-time. To my surprise, even with living right off of Clark Street in the heart of Lincoln Park, there are no cabs to be seen... and it is raining. No, not today, just not today. After hoping to see a vacant cab for 10 minutes, I decided to call for one. The operator said it would be less than 5 minutes. Okay, I can handle that. Well after another 10 minutes, I said screw it and I finally was able to hail a cab. The cab I called for called me 10 minutes later... not quite the time they gave me. Oh well, I got another one. Later, when I was about to be dropped off they cabbie figured out I was in school and stated that I was too beautiful to be in the medical field... whatever that means, but I took it as a compliment. Public compliments seem to be my thing; I can't go anywhere without someone noticing me even though I don't feel like I stand out. Oh well; there are much worse things that could happen.

Needless to say, I was late again by 10 minutes. Even though I attempt to be as prepared as possible, there is always some unexpected variable that destroys the plan. I just can't seem to catch a break. I walked into the lecture to Noah Lowenthal, Vice President of Abelson-Taylor. He discussed working in pharmaceutical advertising, more specifically working with the client, different animators and companies to create the product, as well as the working team. The drug, Kapidex, was the example the he discussed. Abelson-Taylor needed to build a booth for a convention that was promoting the drug. The A-T team decided that interactivity was key to captivate the audience, in which they decided to utilize Microsoft Surface. The work that A-T did was very impressive, especially as this was the first time that the company was working with this software.

Greg Blew was next, in which he discussed Emmi Solutions and patient education. More specifically, he started with the beginnings of the company, the significance of patient education for the patient as well as the hospitals, planning, budgeting, and survey scores from patients. Since Greg is also a professor for our program, he has discussed some insider info with us prior, but nothing like this. It was great to see even more of such a beneficial business.

After lunch, we had our last, and main, lecturer, David Bolinsky. Starting out with prehistoric art and man's ability to create artwork and evoke movement. Bolinsky went on to bring this idea into his own life and his progress to where he is today. Starting out in med school and doing pen and ink illustrations on the side, he was always interested in animation. Taking a leap of faith, he decided to drop everything and follow his dream. Can you believe this man started his company XVIVO, a 3D medical animating company, without ever owning a computer? They started off small and not well-known, but after submitting a short on the process visualizing the process of extravasation at a Siggraph conference and getting rave (yet unexpected, or so XVIVO thought) reviews, the company was jet-set to stardom in an instant. It was amazing to see the success that he had through his hard work and following his dream, which were his words of wisdom for the audience as well.

I couldn't believe what a success the first day of the lecture was this year. Usually, the talks, other than the main lecturer, are attended mainly by Biomedical Visualization students and faculty. This year, all the seats were full for every talk. It is fantastic to see how more people are becoming aware of what we do. All of the speakers were captivating, interesting, and the work they showed was just incredible. I don't think our program could have asked for a better day. We'll see how tomorrow goes!

Video courtesy of youtube.com. Inner Life of a Cell.

You find out a lot about someone.... on a bus

On my way home from work, I always take the same route. There are two sets of buses that pick up and drop off at the same location after I get off the Pink line so I don't have to wait long. However, I usually end up on my way home during the rush hour so the bus usually has standing room only. I'm fine with that, plus I don't want to wait any longer than I have to since it is approximately an hour commute. The bus that came up first was more packed than usual, like I mean me and 2 other people where the only ones that could get on. I thought it was a little funny, especially since being crowded in a bus bring out the best, and worst in people. There were plenty of complaints on why people were still trying to get on, there wasn't any room, couldn't get off, but seriously people? Everyone is trying to get home just like you. And if you are tourists, well welcome to Chicago on a weekday at 5:30 pm. Plan accordingly next time. All I could do is smile and pretend to not pay attention.

On the other hand, I found out some great things about people too. People sacrificed their seats for others, were very polite in this uncomfortable situation and I even was able to strike up a conversation with a woman that I was standing by (She was right by the driver so I was trying to give her some more space... yeah, it was that crowded.), and I think doing the same people watching that I was doing. Sure there were a few more complainers and the snobs that wouldn't move for the elderly, but I was impressed by others even more that were positive in the situation. Who would have thought that a bus ride could be an eye-opening experience? Life's little experiences and lessons happen when you least expect it.

Photo courtesy of mctavish.eu.

Words to Live By

I have finally had enough time to finally read something other than anatomy texts and scientific papers and I finally finished a very inspiring book. The Last Lecture is a memoir by Randy Pausch, a virtual reality and computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a cancer without a cure and kills quickly. Randy died on July 25th, 2008 and left his words of wisdom to his children in the form of a book. His words are ones to live by and I recommend this book to everyone. One of the chapters at the end hit me directly, as some college grads and others think that they are better than what they are given whether it be jobs, classes, etc. The excerpt may be long, but it's worth reading to the end.

51 No Job Is Beneath You

It's been well-documented that there is a growing sense of entitlement among young people today. I have certainly seen that in my classrooms.

So many graduating seniors have this notion that they should be hired because of their creative brilliance. Too many are unhappy with the idea of starting at the bottom.
My advice has always been: "You ought to be thrilled you got a job in the mailroom. And when you get there, here's what you do: Be really great at sorting mail."

No one wants to hear someone say: "I'm not good at sorting mail because the job is beneath me." No job should be beneath us. And if you can't (or won't) sort mail, where is your proof that you can do anything?

After our ETC students were hired by companies for internships or first jobs, we'd often ask the firms to give us feedback on how they were doing. Their bosses almost never had anything negative to say about their abilities or their technical chops. But when we did get negative feedback, is was almost always about how the new employees were too big for their britches. Or that they were already eyeing the corner offices.

When I was fifteen, I worked at an orchard hoeing strawberries, and most of my coworkers were day laborers. A couple of teachers worked there, too, earning a little extra cash for the summer. I made a comment to my dad about the job being beneath those teachers. (I guess I was implying that the job was beneath me, too.) My dad gave me a tongue-lashing of a lifetime. He believed manual labor was beneath no one. He said he'd prefer that I worked hard and became the best ditch-digger in the world rather than coasting along as a self-impressed elitist behind a desk.

I went back into that strawberry field and I still didn't like the job. But I had heard my dad's words. I watched my attitude and hoed a little harder.

Paush, Randy 2008. "The Last Lecture" pp 168-9.