And It's All Small Stuff

The future of self-diagnosis

jessieb — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:20:43 +0000

Today’s inbox delivery from Fast Company was packed full of so many really great stories. included were:

It is this last story that the rest of this post refers to. I get so gosh darn excited when humans start making very practical leaps with technology. There is a video embedded in the story that illustrates the vision of one of the products competing for $10 million Tricorder X Prize. (I have also linked to it below). As I watched the video, I got chills. This is one of those products that makes the leap from science fiction to everyday reality. It looks so easy, so practical, so natural. And while watching, I found myself checking to see if I had any negative reactions. Would this make me feel unsafe? Would it make me feel like “big brother” was watching? Would that be bad?

In answer to my first question, I would have to understand more deeply what the device uses to gather data from the patient’s body. I am not going to speculate (too much) but I look forward to learn a lot more about the this device and others.

In answer to my other questions, I will begin by saying I work in healthcare. Before I worked in healthcare, I would have assumed that any population-level healthcare data was a little creepy and that I didn’t want my healthcare data to be used as an excuse to stalk me and listen in on my life.

But now my stance is soundly it the camp that sharing anything we can about ourselves will only increase the quality and access of the healthcare services available to us. There will always be people and organizations who abuse data. But the benefits of having data work for us outweighs the risk.

The video:

joy of love: routine

jessieb — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 02:41:09 +0000

Routine = bathtime. Bathtime is a signal for the end of the day for Fiona. It comes before snuggle time and eventually sleep. I enjoy it as much as she does, especially when I add a drop of lavender essential oil into the water and soak my feet. It helps both of us wind down and relax.

Nikon D200 – 1/160s – f/1.8 – ISO500

joy of love: the eyes

jessieb — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 04:21:44 +0000

Todd has very pretty eyes, but I think his “aerodynamic” nose and expressionate mouth are his more dominant facial features. It was interesting to use today’s assignment to isolate his eyes:

NikonD200 – 1/500s – 50mm – f/1.8 – ISO800

joy of love: dream

jessieb — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 04:21:15 +0000

I found the assignment of “dream” kind of hard. I had a few ideas, but I never got around to shooting them. Then my little girl was napping and she had this wonderful smooshy face on. I wonder what she dreams. I wonder if they match my dreams for her …

Nikon D200 – 1/45s – f/1.8 – ISO:500

joy of love: spot

jessieb — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 04:20:15 +0000

For today’s assignment, we needed to capture our loved one in their “spot.” Todd is often found taking a quick nap on the couch after his day job and before he starts his duties as the race director for the CopperDog 150. Here he is …

Nikon D200 – 1/50s – 50mm – f/1.8 – ISO: 800

joy of love: hobby

jessieb — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 22:18:39 +0000

Today’s joy of love from Willette assignment asked for us to photograph our loved one doing their hobby. Even though Todd has not played with his robots in forever, I made him take a break from the CopperDog responsibilities that he is drowning in to pull out one of his creations for a photo op. Here is the one I submitted (and below are some close contenders):

joy of love: gift from the heart

jessieb — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 04:29:46 +0000

Today’s assignment was to find and photograph something that our loved one has said, done or given to signify their love for us. I snapped some shots of my wedding bands, of Fiona, of Fiona with my wedding bands. But then as silly as it sounds, I snapped some photos of the iPad (and even some of Fiona with the iPad).

Our love in this family is so complete, so unconditional. We don’t spend on gifts at holidays to prove our love, we hardly remember our anniversary, we don’t see a need to pay special attention to material things on these arbitrary days. Instead, everyday is when we display how much we love each other. We bought the iPad for our family on an “everyday” without a reason other than we loved each other and wanted to add some fun.

joy of love: who they love

jessieb — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 04:43:41 +0000

My daughter really loves so many things. I snapped photos of her with her stuffed animals, the balloon she walks around with (yes, a 10-cent balloon rocks her world). Nothing really came out though. I have to work on how I capture light. Or maybe just try to take photos in the daylight. It is hard when it gets dark at 6 p.m. here. I finally took one of her feeding Yuki and Shilo. She loves them. They are her siblings.

joy of love: love to hate

jessieb — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 18:57:46 +0000

Oh Lord. Today’s joy of love assignment was to photograph the thing that our loved one does that drives us bonkers. This is a challenge … not because I can’t think of anything. But because I’d love to photograph it without him knowing. I just don’t think I am that incognito of a snapper yet. So at dinner, I was able to pop the camera up from my lap and snap a few of Todd … eating. His table manners and my table nammers just don’t jive. Never have. And I have lost hope that they ever will. Captured below:

Joy of Love: what they wear

jessieb — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 05:17:54 +0000

Today’s assignment entailed photographing our loved one’s clothes. I snapped a few close ups of Fiona’s shoes, Todd’s blue jeans, Fiona;s ruffled cuff. But then I spotted them. When Fiona was born I wanted to get her a pair of sunglasses. But not just any pair. I didn’t want princesses or puppies all over them. I wanted cool, chic glasses for my kid. I finally found a pair of infant-sized, aqua, rayban-style sunglasses on ebay for two bucks. They were from teh eighties. I bought them without a second thought.

Sometime last month, she was playing with them and the lenses popped out. Then the funny really started to happen. She was a little beatnik! So here she is in her lensless glasses.