Flyfishing for Shad

I spent the weekend fly-fishing on the Potomac River right out from Georgetown University. I convinced Rob Wood to come down Friday night and spend the day fishing with Bobby Harrington and me. So he packed his family up and came down. We got up early Saturday morning and headed over to Fletchers Boat House to get our row boats and licenses. We were lucky and got the last 2 boats Fletchers had.

Fishing in the morning was a little slow, and it took us a while to figure out the proper technique. Once we did, the shad started coming in. Rob and I hit a few doubles in the morning which kept it exciting.

Mike and Rob bringing in doubles!

The beautiful shad of the potomac

Unfortunately, Rob had to take off a little after lunch; but Bobby and I stayed out, and ended up glad we did. Bobby and I hit 7 doubles in the afternoon, which means we both had fish on at the same time. The fishing was incredible. Shad are a very tough fish and always put up a good fight. Their underbelly is often so sharp and pointed it feels like it could cut you. There are 2 types of Shad: Hickory and American. The Americans are the gold prize of shad. We caught mostly Hickory, but got lucky and hit a few Americans as well. I think we all caught one or two Americans, but Bobby caught the fish of the day towards the end of the day. This Shad was like an NFL football; it was huge.

Bobby and his big American Shad

Okay, maybe it wasn’t the biggest fish of the weekend, I guess this fish was…

Huge Striper from the Potomac

This is a fish of a lifetime, so I will spare all of you details on how it was caught....It was gigantic and very heavy. Some day when i have more time I will tell the story! Some day....

All in all, it was a great weekend and I had a great time spending time with Bobby and Rob. We'll get them again next weekend!

Update on Work...

I am trying to get back into the habit of blogging. It has been some time since I posted last, and a lot has happened. At the beginning of the year I began a new and exciting job that I am thoroughly enjoying. I am the Director of a National Electronic Health Records (EHR) Demonstration Project that is focused on improving the quality of patient care through the efficient use of EHRs.

We (Medicare) are offering to pay primary care physicians an incentive payment for using EHRs efficiently to improve the quality of care. The way the medical system is organized creates an unfair mismatch for physicians. In most cases they bear the sole responsibility of purchasing these expensive systems, and once they do the payers of health care, like Medicare, receive most of the financial benefit. It isn’t until the EHR is well integrated into the physicians practice that they start saving money. Through this demonstration project, Medicare is taking the lead to try and reverse this mismatch by giving money back to physicians for effectively using EHRs to help us accomplish the ultimate objective which is to improve the quality of care Medicare beneficiaries receive. In the middle of June we will be announcing 12 communities across the country that will participate in the demonstration project with us. To date, we have visited about 37 communities and invited them to apply to be part of the project. The project has been well received, and we are hopeful that we will get a good amount of applications.

I am writing this from an Amtrack train, headed up to Newark to participate in the last event for the promotion of my project. The applications are due May 13. I am challenged by the work, but am enjoying it and learning a lot; it has been a great project for me to work on! If you want to learn more, which I'm sure all of you do, here are the links to more information on the project:

EHR Demonstration Fact Sheet
EHR Demonstration Web Site

Here is an article from the road:
http://www.khi.org/s/index.cfm?aid=1157

I love my Wii!

So I turned the big 30 on March 13th! For my birthday this year I got a gift that to this point in my life, I have never had. To this point in my long career I have never owned a video game console. Growing up I was always jealous of my friends that could spend countless hours in mindless fun. Once I got a little older I realized the wisdom of my parents in limiting my exposure to these time dumps. However, my perfect record has been destroyed.

I made it 30 years, but for my 30th birthday my family decided to get me a Nintendo Wii. (of course I didn’t ask for it!!). In addition to getting a Wii, I also got a video game pass from Blockbuster that allows me to rent as many games in a month that I can. I figure I can determine what games I really like before buying them. So far I have loved it. I love the fact that I can download old school video games like Super Mario Brothers 3, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, and Excite Bike; great games from way back in the day. I have also really enjoyed the interactive (athletic…some would say) aspect of the Wii. I love playing tennis and Tiger Woods golf, and it amazes me how the machine is able to receive my movements and translate them into video game movements. I will confess after taking batting practice the other night, I woke up sore; I couldn’t believe it. I have also broken a sweat boxing with Qualter. The machine is quite entertaining. All the thanks to my loving family that got this for me…Now all of you need to come visit so you can play with me.

Wow! We have Great Leaders in this Country

Tribute to an Incredible Man...Gordon B. Hinckley

This week the world lost something great. Our beloved Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away and was reunited with his loving wife. President Hinckley was truly a giant! His loving, sweet, and gentle personality changed the lives of many, including my own. I know he was a Prophet of God. His insightful words inspired and will continue to inspire me to be a better man. I love the quote I heard him say when he came to Georgia while on my mission "The Gospel is to make bad men good, and good men better." He is a man who lived according to the principles he taught, and showed all of us the joy we can experience in doing the same. His wit and sense of humor was appreciated by all. During the same visit in Georgia, the first words that came out of his mouth were "Georgia, the land of the red-soil and the red-necks!" He was a wonderful man, and I will always be grateful for what he has done for me in my life. I feel somewhat selfish experiencing sorrow at his loss, because I know he is in a better place with his loving wife.

Thank you President Hinckley for the example of your life.

Here are a few video tributes I enjoyed watching:

Here is a tribute by Glen Beck, a loud spoken report for CNN:




I love hearing him bear his testimony...