Pogi Cybertar

When I started to become attached and then introduced my only son to the once seemingly exciting Super Mario’s quest on his pursuit for the lovely Princess via the basic Nintendo 1D video game during the early nineteen-eighties, I thought there was nothing else left for to me prove my expertise in such game; I was simply impressive.

Now, 26 years later, my son is already 22 years of age and there are just generations of Super Mario and Playstation video games that he had outgrown and became expert with; I’m just way out of commission when it comes to video games. My fingers are no longer that quick to react or carry out orders from my brain and eyes; but, now, I’m certainly immersed in computer technology and healthcare information systems.

To cut the story short, accessing the http://www.secondlife.com/ as part of the requirements in one of my Healthcare Informatics classes that seem to rekindle my previous life and experiences, my prior interest in video games will have to be combined with my current computer and healthcare IT skills for me to enjoy what this website and its exciting features have to offer.

It actually didn’t take me long to open my account in http://www.secondlife.com/ ; then created my own avatar (pogi Cybertar) and its dashboard. But, it did take me a while to locate the Quick Start user guide, which would be crucial in showing me the steps and path on what would be next after I opened such account. After a few minutes of surfing such website, I finally decided to download its application in order to get me going; but I encountered another issue because my laptop from work won’t allow me to run such downloaded application. I tried poking around my laptop then loosened up its security module to allow me to run http://www.secondlife.com/; after several failed attempts, I used my son’s brand new laptop then tried successfully accessed and ran this website.

What I found was that by using the left and right click buttons when moving around in the environment as displayed on the desktop, this website is truly an interesting one and certainly deserves my spare minutes in the days to come. I first went in to learn the basic functionality I would need to keep my avatar walking around the park and interacting with his peers. I also find it really amazing that I could build and/change my avatar’s profile, mood, appearance, etc. I also tried building an object in the park, but I couldn’t because I didn’t own the space.

I’m telling you, I do really need to learn all functionality so that I could not only challenge myself, but enjoy what is in there for me because I wanted to build an avatar that would reflect what I would truly want added and/or removed in my real life on the time and place.

Tarps, toilets are priorities for quake-hit Haiti: U.N.

Tarps, toilets are priorities for quake-hit Haiti: U.N.

I may not that up-to-speed on the latest developments on Haiti’s post-earthquake agony that took the lives 200,000 Haitians over a month ago, but I could just imagine what would it take for such impoverished country to, once again, rises up from the debris and dusts and get back on its feet when prior to such catastrophic event, they were already considered to be the poorest country on this planet. This is for sure a big test for the UN to play its role and take the lead on every effort that needs to be done for the Haitians, especially in terms of rebuilding the country’s main infrastructure, financials, law enforcement, governance, and health care sectors.

The initial after-effect of that 7.0 magnitude earthquake and seemingly countless aftershocks that forced the Haitians to live and dine on the streets in addition to the dead bodies that up to now need be extricated from the ruins certainly tells everyone that there are still enormous amount of work to follow solely to preserve the public health and safety. Thus, since the UN is now, once again, seeking for global pledges for financial support to build over enough number of latrines (fixed or portables) and more tarps for the victims’ temporary shelters, the international community better take such request serious.

Although, not yet considered an epidemic, there are already indications that a list of communicable diseases has broken out in certain areas; the lack of proper public waste disposal facilities and effective sewage system will put everyone in Haiti at risk. Obviously, the situation is not that difficult to understand, when lots of people are packed in one location like sardines and without proper shelter, effective sanitation facilities, and medical support, the next to come will be crisis; all efforts that have been so far rendered for the Haitians will go in vain. This is actually no different than the military exercises and deployments I’ve been a part with few years ago; in addition to making sure we had the all the essential immunization, we had to have good and well monitored water supply, proper waste disposal, latrines that are at least 100 feet from the mess hall, and dependable medical support.

That’s why we must all understand that time is absolutely critical in Haiti today; we must all take the necessary action as soon as possible and help prevent the spread of diseases and health risks in Haiti.

Navy Corpsman “Devil Doc”

On September 1982, after surviving from three months of odd jobs, I became physically and mentally weak; then took the biggest decision in my life and embarked on a highly challenging and dangerous way of life. My basic training started at the Naval Recruit Training Depot in San Diego and upon graduation, I volunteered to take the only available seat at the Naval Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes, Illinois simply to avoid being sent straight to the fleet.

After 12 weeks of didactics and hands-on training at the Naval Medical Center Great Lakes working side-by-side with young nurses and physicians, I successfully achieved the Navy Corpsman credential and become part of the most highly respected occupation in the Navy because they have played critical roles on several military conflicts and global wars especially in the jungles of Vietnam. We (corpsmen) provide the Marines with the high quality and lifesaving medical supports they need; the Marines are the “Devil Dogs” and we are their “Devil Docs.”

From Great Lakes, Illinois and after graduating from the Navy’s Hospital Corps School, my healthcare training continued in Camp Pendleton, California for an additional 12 weeks of Field Medical Technician Course. Equipped with the EMT and Nursing services training from Illinois, together with close to 150 Navy corpsmen, we trained side-by-side with the Marines. It was an amazing and unforgettable 12 weeks of rigorous physical training designed simply make us act and live like a mean marine. I must say, I was pretty much “locked on and good-to-go” because I had learned what I was supposed to learn and absolutely in great physical condition; those daily two to five miles of running sessions up and down the hills and beach of Del Mar, Camp Pendleton certainly put my acts together and introduced me much deeper into the healthcare lifestyle and industry.

And, then, during the simulated battlefield mass casualty portion of the course, where we worked with a few Navy physicians and nurses on a number of scenarios and a few real-life emergencies, I was proud to have received the Field Medical Technical credential. Honestly, I was never been so proud of myself for enduring and doing very well on such intensive and challenging training. Since then, I became a proud member of the well renowned Navy Medicine Team. I'll tell you more later about this career path I've decided to take.

I Was There

It’s simply unbelievable to feel and see how technology has evolved and brought changes to almost everything in the past three decades. It's still fresh to me, that was on the later part of 1979 when I first stepped into the world of computer technology. I thought, carrying 18 semester units on my second year in the College of Engineering and Mathematics at Adamson University, Manila, Philippines wasn’t really much of a challenge; I decided to enroll in a short-term, vocational course specific on COBOL Language and BASIC programming at a nearby private school. I had zero knowledge on anything about computers. Out of my curiosity on computer technology and the fact that I was surrounded with several cute girls from the neighboring colleges, I actually did very well in the class and learned quite a lot.

I could still reemember how small was our computer classroom and we had take turn keying-in our respective personal profile on a TRS (Tandy Radio Shack-80) then after three weeks of didactics, we then had to apply what we learned by coding our assigned COBOL algorithms on on a bundle of punch cards that we had to work as a team to complete the tasks by taking turn driving those huge keypunching machine. After making sure that the codes are flawless, we then moved to the EDP (Electronic Data Processing) room that was packed with several IBM-360 mainframe computers next to the shelves and rolls of computer tapes (no hard disk then) and gigantic, loud printers loaded with wide sheets of printing papers with holes each side and hooked on pronged paper tracks. And, listening to how the computer room staff conversed with each other, for me, was absolutely amazing. They were sharp, astute, and appeared truly sophisticated.

Since then, my interest and fascination with computers rapidly developed; however, it had to take the backseat on my list of priorities when my father and I unexpectedly migrated here in California, U.S. of A on June 1982. Honestly, I’m telling you, God planned something good for me; I’ll tell you how and in what way... on my next blog.

Still,
Dante