11 Days to go: A Full Boidem, Perhaps a Tenant

Today we finished packing my folders and loading them to the boidem. With them we loaded D's CDs and DVDs. The boidem is now officially full. Some of the boxes found their way into a nook in their exact size. About third of both our belongings are now stored in less than 3 cubic meters (image from D's flickr).

In another subject we have two possible tenants. One is a nice American girl who wants the place with all the furniture and appliances in it, which is exactly what we want. The other possibility is a nice couple. We're now waiting for the American girl to call us and then we'll know who takes the place. I know that it's not over until we sign the contract, but I hope that we will do it soon.

We had a very disappointing talk with D's parents that now refuse to take Willy the cat in. Had they told us earlier we could have tried and arranged something else, perhaps take it with us after all. Now, as can be understood and expected, D is very stressed over this subject and she had a fight with her parents. I still hope that they'll climb down the tree they so wrongly climbed up. However, I learned some important lesson from this incident.

Leaving my work

As part of our preparations to the university, I had my last day of work today (actually, the last day is Sunday, when I sign my clearance, but today I had my farewell event). It's hard leaving a place where some of my best friends, and colleagues of 4+ years, are still working. I knew it was something hard needed to be done, but I didn't realize it until today how hard it would be. The fact is that I write this post while still at work. I received many compliments, and presents. Most importantly, we pledged to keep in touch, and - from my side - I'll try and do that.

19 days to go - the new countdown

We're 19 days away from leaving for Cincinnati. Preparations are progressing well, my visa petition was approved two days ago, and I scheduled a visa interview at the embassy for next Friday. There is still a lot to do before we can go, but it seems that the show stoppers are behind us.

I am still worried about my Father's coping with my Mother's death. He is happy for us and the way things are going, but in a talk today he said that he is also a realist, and he knows that we might be away for many years and that it will be hard for him. I invited him to visit us and told him that we will come back for visits, but it is not the same. Again I feel that I wish I could live a few lives and do all the things I want to do.

Medicine as a "black box science"

My recent encounters with the (Israeli) health system left me puzzled as to how much of a science health is. It seems that medical doctors, especially when things are obscure, tend to hypothesize too much, and their hypotheses have too much to do with their previous experiences. Or, as my engineering mentor at work tends to say: "when you're a hammer every problem seems like a nail". In other words, they seem to impose their past experience as the diagnosis, and every doctor has his or her own guess as to what my Mother's cancer is. We heard 4 or 5 different diagnoses and it seems that none has been right so far.

This leads me to the conclusion that medicine is not a science, at least not one of the accurate sciences, for example math or physics. It's more like an art, where personal feelings play as much part as any other factor. There have been many developments in medical equipment and technology, but these developments serve mainly to improve the ability to "observe", rather as a means to understanding the real processes in the body. This is a real problem when the medical condition is mainly a process, like in cancer, Parkinson's disease, aging, or Alzheimer's disease. It's no surprise, then, that modern medicine found no cure to any of these diseases. It seems to me that the doctors are using a (complicated) form of "black-box" testing: they try something as input and observe its implications as output. Nothing is really known about the process within the body, although theories are abundant, and every doctor has his or her own.

Perhaps a new way of practicing medicine is in order. This kind of practice should start at medical schools, where the emphasis should be on the process rather than on its ramifications. The human body should be studied as a "system of systems", where each system plays a part in the overall view, with processes crossing the various systems. The interdependency between the systems, and the inner processes within each system should be known. The measurements and figures of merits that can be observed for each process should be learned. In other words, methods of systems engineering should be employed and can be employed successfully in medicine. Only by changing the paradigm will medicine become the science that will take us to the next level of Human longevity.

19 days

The past week was very demanding and tense.
On the university front we received good indications that things finally started to progress smoothly. We made good progress in packing as well, mainly today.
On my Mother's front the situation has been deteriorating steadily and rapidly. I don't know if we can expect much in the near future, and maybe it is time to let go, no matter how hard it is for everyone.

26 days

The ultimatum certainly made them move. Hopefully it's not too late.
Meanwhile, packing has started. Most of my clothes are no longer in the closet. Some books are in the Boidem. All the things from my grandparents are also there.
Does anyone need a 3 room flat in the middle of Tel-Aviv and is ready to pay for it? Give us a call.