From: Nathan To: Friends and family at home – and in Boston Subject: On leaving Perth
I’m typing this on the Plane from Perth to Brunei, and I
find myself pretty sad about it. While being away from Perth, not much has
changed, but I still missed the place. Seeing a lot of familiar faces was
great, and I hope to see more next time, when I’m not in such a rush with the
JCLA and I’m back, I hope to spend more time with everyone. I’m been extremely
grateful to be able to see you all for a brief time, but I only just realized
how much I miss everyone from home. I’m really looking forward to seeing you
all again over New Years.
One of the hardest things about being in Boston, and I guess
about anyone being overseas away from their friends, is feeling like you are
missing out on hearing about their life and the stuff they are up to. Talking
to someone from Sweden I met at the JCLA, we shared the same problems, as he
had been traveling the world for years.
We said the best things to hear when coming back was hearing
about the little things that people have been doing while we had been away.
It’s so hard to find out what people have been doing while you’re away though.
Heck, I had a mate who liked a New Zealand born woman, and without having a ticket
back to Australia, just hopped on a plane from Moscow to London. He also had a
job to go to that Monday. These are the things I love to catch up on. Oh, my
friend is still in London – Tickets are about ₤5000.
Next time, I’ll be talking about the Leadership
Academy. Got a fair bit of medical news to catch up on as
well.
Sorry for the hiatus in posts, just touched down in Perth, Australia on Saturday night to do some talks in Australia and Malaysia for the Leadership Academy I started last year. My blog posts will be intermittent for the next two weeks at best. Hoping I'll be able to do one every two days or so.
Hi All, this is what's been happening in Medical News for the past few days:
While not exactly medical news, Service Pack 3 is just about to come out from Microsoft. Since Microsoft has stopped sales of XP on pre-installed PC and through retail channels, this is likely to be the last SP you get for XP. So if you need a new computer, it could be time to buy a Mac. Vista sucks, I've been using it for about 8 months now, and the only good thing about it is the Media Center, which is slow and breaks most of the time.
FierceHealthIT reports that the American Medicare system may start reimbursing "e-visits" to doctors in 2009. This means adding some new codes to the CMS list, so IT departments will likely find themselves with a fair bit of work to do come 2009 if this system goes ahead. Probably a good idea, considering fuel (gas?) is reaching $4.30 a gallon (roughly 4 litres) here.
More EHR news, again from FierceHealthIT: Another reason that doctors are resistant to installing EMRs is because they are worried the government may try to control their practice from the data they are getting from the EMR. This reason was given, along with a stack of other ones, in this report. I find it interesting they have a preference for using hand-written notes, considering no one can read them. Typing is usually quicker anyway.
From Medgadget: The developers of HealthMap, A Web-based Data-Mining System, has recently published an article in the latest PLoS Medicine, that documents what they are doing to improve their system. After having a look at it, it's really cool, you can keep track of what diseases are in your area. If you want, you can keep track of the Tomato Salmonella scare running up the east coast of America.
Last one, also from Medgadget: The C5 Tablet PC, for clinical operations, has been upgraded on the 3rd and promises several new features, like integrated mobile broadbad, which incidentally, would be excellent for the company I work for. Woo, it'd be cool to get one of these.
But seriously, I was pretty close to going mental when I thought I had lost my passport last week. (The next one of these will be on getting a MASS liquor ID) But I did do a fair bit of research on what you have to do to get your passport replaced in America, within a week's time.
You need to do one thing and get two things before you can leave America with a lost Passport:
1. Notify the embassy your Passport was lost or stolen. 2. Your replacement Passport (Emergency or not). Cost - $66 + any postage fees. 3. A replacement Visa (Otherwise, you won't be coming back into the country...)
How to notify the embassy your Passport was lost or stolen:
Call the nearest Embassy (The Washington DC one is 24 hours on +1 202 797 3000) and notify them about your lost passport. The person on the line will be able to help you get a new one as well. If you don't notify someone about your lost passport, you could be fined heavily.
Make sure to also file a police report about your lost or stolen passport. You WILL need this when trying to get your replacement visa.
How to get a replacement Passport:
There are 5 Australian Consulate Generals in America (More details here):
Atlanta
Chicago
Honolulu
Los Angeles
New York
Australian Consulate General 150 East 42nd Street, 34th Floor New York NY 10017-5612 Tel: (212) 351 6500 / Fax: (212) 351 6501 General Office Hours 8.30 am to 5.00 pm Monday to Friday
San Francisco
Washington DC
The closest one to Boston is New York, so that's where you can go to apply for your passport. You must make an appointment before you arrive. Your passport will then be made in Washington and sent out from there to your home. It seems that emergency passports will take as little as 2 days to get made and costs a little more. If you don't have a car, you can take the AMTRAK train for $65ish. It'll take about 5 hours.
This part is not as stressful as you'd think it would be, just don't stress and you'll be fine. 2 days to get a passport is no time at all!
How to Get a Replacement Visa:
Ooff, compared to getting a passport, this is very hard. You CAN'T get a replacement visa while you are in the States, but you CAN live in the states for the duration of your visa.
After you have reported your passport lost to the police, you need to contact the Department of Homeland Security for an replacement I-94 form. After you have notified your own Embassy, you need to report your visa lost or stolen to the Embassy you received your Visa from. To do this:
Fax the Consular Section or Consul General at the Embassy abroad which issued your visa, to report it lost/stolen. Go to the Embassy Consular Section Website to locate the Fax number and contact information. Specifically state whether the visa was lost or stolen. Be sure to include your full name, date of birth, place of birth, address in the U.S., and an email address (if available). If you have a copy of the passport or visa, fax this to the Embassy or consular section. Otherwise, if known, report the category of visa, and the passport number from the lost/stolen visa. If you have already reported your visa lost/stolen to the U.S. Embassy abroad, and then you later find your misplaced visa, please note that the visas will be invalid for future travel to the U.S, and you must apply in person at the Embassy or Consulate abroad for a new visa.
After all this, you can then apply for a replacement visa in your own country. BE SURE TO BRING YOUR COPY OF THE POLICE REPORT YOU FILED. You need to create a written report about the loss of your passport and visa. Good luck!
Hope that helps, and for more information, click here (I-94 visa stuff) and here. (Passport stuff)
Hi guys, first up, big news, i'm headed back to Australia on the 10th july for the leadership program I started, so i'll be able to you all again soon. I arrive in Perth on the 12th, so this is getting really
exciting!
I've been pretty good, not having to worry about money quite so much, and am starting to pay off the credit card. Should be done with paying that after the leadership academy. Then i'll start saving for the trip to Australia and back. Phew.
Work is going really well, i've got stacks of stuff to do, and i'm learning a fair bit about catering software to clinical people, which is a big learning experience.
And my apartment is finally finished. Got a dining table last weekend. This is how my room is looking.
I'm stoked I can start using the balcony at night, and there's somewhere I can sit and eat properly, with guests and such.
Also had a guest over the weekend, who is going to be going to Global Village as well. Great guy, and it was a shame I didn't get to show him around. I wonder what he'll think of Global Village...
Anyways, enough from me for now. Be seeing you soon!
Recent Comments