How to select the health insurance plan

As I run a lot of errands for my father-in-law while he was in hospital, I got to understand the big differences between insurances.
While he stayed in hospital for a week and we were there 24/7, we just got the chance to talk to the doctors for 2 or 3 times shortly. We didn't see any written diagnosis at all.  The hospital just called us 4 hours ahead to discharge.  The insurance company ordered the hospital to discharged him at midnight and moved him to a rehab center. There were no phone numbers/emails or any form that we can communicate with the doctors at all. For one month now, we still could not get a copy of all CT/Xrays or medical record at all even after we have submitted all the required paperwork.

At the rehab center, the doctor only sees him every other week. Still no phone numbers and emails. We are like walking in the dark and don't know what to expect and what have happened.

Comparing my experiences with my doctors, it is really a nightmare.

I usually can see any doctor on the same day or the other day if my issue is very urgent. If I am travelling, I just email my doctors and get responses right away. They call back immediately and fax/email me all the information I need. I can access all my medical records online since 2006 and compare the difference of the results easily. I am not an expert about how to select health insurance. But I think the following tips are really helpful and important:

1. Never buy the cheapest one or just buy what your friends buy. Do the research and know what you need. See if the doctors you see or like are in the network. The hospitals you use or may use is in the network. Personally I really love Palo Alto medical foundation. It has great doctors, good tools to browse records and communicate with the doctors.

2. Do the simple calculation about how much one pays for the regular checkup, and most importantly the worst case scenario. Don't let the 80% or 90% coverage fool you. The more meaningful part is the out of pocket' maximum, and deductibles.

3. The rule of thump: never use a HMO. It is just evil. For my father-in-law's case, the good doctors we know are all out of his insurance network. We don't mind to pay a visit of a doctor. The insurance would not pay a penny for any drugs/service that is ordered by a out-of-network doctor. It is just so evil.

Remember, networking is very important. If you find a great doctor, you are in his/her doctors' network. My family doctor referred me to a PT. She is great. I have chronicle backpain, stomach pain and have seen different doctors. After the first treatment from Carol from OrthoSport, my pain went away and I had the first sound sleep for years. Bowen's pediatrician was introduced by my OB and she is very detail oriented. For any questions/problems that a new mom has, she will explain or provide a solution. 

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Wild rice is not real rice

While shopping at Wholefood, I saw this wild rice thing. I bought one pound as it is really expansive, like $10 per pound. I mixed the wild rice with the regular rice and it is really yummy. It has a light vegetable aroma.  I did some research to see how different wild rice comparing the regular rice we have all the time. Wild rice belongs to semi-aquatic grass, not in the rice category at all. Surprisingly, it has more nutritions then regular rice. One cup of cooked wild rice provides 15% or more of the daily value of 15% of zinc and over 20% of manganese. It is also high in protein and  the amino acid lysine. It is a good substitute of rice for pregnant women or rice porridge for little kids.  We are so addicted to wild rice, finally we found a good deal on amazon that is $4 per pound in stead of $10 per pound in wholefood.

CS academic research

While reading Haystack Blog about difference between academic research and industry research. There are a few important missing points. I assume Haystack hasn't worked in industry or modern industry.

1. The politics in academia and industry is very different. To apply grant, one needs to play some politics to get huge grant, but that is mostly the professors' job. For most graduate students, they are still idealists and like to do research to fullfill their dreams or develop their full potentials. Graduate students love challenges and like to solve open problems. But in the industry, one could not take that high risk at all. In academia, the research can go for over years. That could not happen in industry. In some companies, it usually takes one year or even just half year to get one's project either launched or cancelled. Few people have the leverage to take few years to develop a project. It is just like facebook motto: done is better than perfect.

2. A lot of professors who gave up tenure and joined industry is mostly because of $$$. If they can get paid half million or one million a year, I guess they would be very reluctant to give up the tenure. A few of my fellow classmates bought houses over 1 million, but the professors in our graduate school seldom have houses with value over 1 million and some of them are MIT graduates. This leads me to think the fundemental problem is the structure of education system. We don't value teachers and professors enough.

3. I do agree with Haystack that during the faculty summits in the industry, it should be the professors to do the demo and presentations, and people from industry can try to connect/apply the research results to the real products.

Here is Haystack's original blog:
http://haystack.csail.mit.edu/blog/2013/08/26/can-academics-make-a-difference-in-cs-research/

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Learning letters and abacus by 2

My son started to recognize alphabet around one year old when he said O by pointing the O letter. At beginning we thought it was an accident, but he was very consistent to recognize A and O. At one and half years old he could count till 10 both in Chinese and English. Since then he loves counting and now at two years old he can count to 30 in Chinese and 20 in English. We have a few toys to show him how to count, but the one he loves most is the wooden toy with 2-in-1 flip flop letters and abacus. On one side, it shows the basic abacus like counting, simple addition, subtraction. On the other side, it shows the 26 alphabetic letters and one word for each letter. Now, he can recite not only 26 letters in order, but also 26 words too. Whenever, we say a letter, he can response with a word. From time to time, my son loves to count with me by sitting on my lap and holding the 2-in-1 flip flop letters and abacus toy. It is just so lovely!

Facial and Eye Sauna

As winter comes, it becomes so dry. My eye starts itching due to the dryness. It goes so uncomfortable, and I went to see a doctor to inspect my eyes. The doctor suggested to use the steam from a cup of hot water to moisturize my eyes. When I got home, I realized that I have a better tool for the eye sauna. I bought a facial sauna system a few years back, and have put it in the storage for a while. This facial sauna system generates gentle steams for both face and eyes. After trying it for a few days, my eyes feel much better. Comparing any facial message, it is much cheaper. One also saves the time to drive to the facial place, as it is very convenient to use at home to relax.
Here is the product sold at amazon:
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