one - introduction

Each summer, Concord Academy "assigns" its faculty and staff summer reading. This summer, we all read Better by Atul Gawande. Gawande is a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and a staff writer for the New Yorker. Better is a collection of essays containing anecdotes and observations regarding various aspects of the practice of medicine, including the collection of data to insure specific or improved outcomes, the importance of habitual practices such as washing hands, and ethical dilemmas between doctors and patients or between doctors and society at large. Although Better is written from the perspective of a surgeon and the topics it deals with are rooted in the medical field, its core messages are applicable to anyone of any profession.

The last chapter talks about how to become what Gawande calls a positive deviant - five behaviors to help you be "better" at what you do. He suggests the following: ask an unscripted question; don't complain; count something; write something; and change. I have decided to act on these as best I can. And, so, I created this blog. I have decided to write something, and I hope you enjoy what I write.

As for the title … This blog will probably be a conglomeration of a variety of thoughts, observations, and stories of my everyday life: perhaps some anecdotes from my classrooms, some random stories of everyday occurrences in my life, and definitely some recipes and discussions of food. So, this blog doesn't have a specific theme other than the fact that it's about me and what I think. For those of you who know me, you probably are aware that I was a "rocket scientist" - at least that's what some people like to say. I'm not entirely sure that a masters of science in aerospace engineering automatically makes one a rocket scientist, but I think my friends and family like saying it. And, so a title was born.

I mean, really … it's not like this blog - or my life - is rocket science.