Rod G.

When you are looking online to find medical information on any given subject or if you are looking to find a new doctor, it is important to see if they are board certified in a specific field of medicine. The American Board of Medical Specialties allows you to look up a doctors board certification if you have their name. So, if you are on a health care website and interested in seeing if the medical information is coming from a board certified doctor, visit this abms.org and look up the doctors credentials. If you are wondering why it is important to learn about a doctor's board certification, I would encourage you to read this link here.

http://www.abms.org/About_Board_Certification/means.aspx

If you have to try one program, try this one... - During my medical training, this was the one weight loss program that was universally recommended to me by both patients and physicians. It is not a "quick fix" program and it involves real life style changes along with group support. This is not a fad diet plan (like protein only diets). I would highly recommend this site and program to anyone who is seriously considering losing weight.

Exergen temporal artery thermometers are the ones that physicians and nurses often use in the hospital setting to swipe a patients forehead and get an immediate temperature reading. They are great for children and infants who hate rectal thermometers. The other type of thermometers where you just place the thermometer on forehead and the temporal artery temp is not measured are not typically as accurate as this thermometer. I have one for my home and personal use and it was one of the best $30 I ever spent to help take care of my baby. It does take a little while to learn how to use it properly and they have a video you can watch to see how it is done. http://www.exergen.com//virtualclassroom/index.htm

Each one, Teach one, was the mantra used in my medical training years ago and basically it meant that everyone has something to teach and everyone has something to learn. This company skillshare.com has taken that concept and is allowing everyone to become a teacher and a student. There have been other websites and companies with similar ideas throughout the years, but this one seems to have hit a home run with their efforts and understands how to motivate people to become either a teacher or a student. Now, I just need to decide if I want to learn to become a bartender or play Settlers of Catan first...

I recently read a review about Minecraft which you can get from minecraft.net. I had seen several people on sitejabber review Lego or block type of games and never really understood what the hype was all about. Here is a link to the IGN video: Minecraft: I don't get it. http://pc.ign.com/articles/116/*******p1.html
If you ever played with legos in your childhood, you owe it to yourself to watch this video and see if it is worth a quick download to relive the lego days. Parents with children who play with lego should also take a look at the video and see if it might appeal to your children.

The best part seems to be that people can share their minecraft/lego creations with each other. This guy created a Call of Duty FPS in the minecraft world.
http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/01/31/minecraft-black-ops-nuketown-remake-tehtoolebox

Great indie game that deserves a full heart for managing to amass such a following (700,000 facebook likes to date) in an era of big budget gaming.

When I was in medical school, the Merck Manual was one of the books we often used to look up various diseases as they had a pocket sized version that fit in our coat pockets. Now, the entire home edition of the famed Merck Manual is available online using this link;
http://www.merck.com/pubs/
The reason I will often recommend patients to look up diseases in this format rather than on more commercial sites is that Merck is a pharmaceutical company and they do not focus on "upselling" the consumer or linking to other "paid" advertisements. They give you just the simple facts on the medical diseases and you can rest assured that physicians also use the Merck Manual as a reference tool.

Often times people want to find information online to determine whether or not they really have a flu virus. The main issue is determining whether or not it is appropriate to make an appointment with your physician. This website has a very good self evaluation program where you answer health questions and the site directs you to seek further evaluation, seek immediate treatment, etc... If you are unsure whether or not to see a doctor and you are looking for information online about the flu virus, this is very good self assessment tool.

http://www.flu.gov/evaluation/

For anyone who has used the open source tools that W3C has developed, I would highly encourage a small donation to keep their tools free and available to the public. Their tutorials and courses are an invaluable resource that is free for everyone wanting to learn more about web development.

Going to give logitech big props and a full heart for their move to dominate the webcam/video conferencing market. Their Vid HD consumer service which is free and works with their inexpensive HD webcams or google TV really is quite impressive at their 720p resolution. The significantly more expensive offerings from other companies such as cisco can do 1080p, but I'm not sure that most will even notice it and not every one has a 1080p display (1920 x 1080) or a webcam that can support that resolution. The Vid HD service will work with other webcams that are not made by logitech too. They have a very simple interface and I think their partnership with googleTV should help them grow. Skype also has 720p as their "HD" version. I do wonder which company will be the first to offer true 1080p resolution for free. See lazy link below for more info
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/349/5788

Since 1982 the NAHC (national association for home care and hospice) is a trade association for business that provide healthcare and medical supplies to patients. While it is geared mostly for the business, it also serves as a great consumer resource as well. They have a catalog of resources they can mail to interested consumers and well as provide guidance to people who are looking for home care. Here is a link to that section of the website
http://www.nahc.org/consumer/home.html

If you are looking for a local provider they have a page for that as well

http://www.nahcagencylocator.com/

They also will give you access to their magazine called Caring, which has useful information for those people interested in home care and hospice

http://digitalcaringmagazine.nahc.org

Full heart for this site though their service is not cheap... but it does seem fair. They offer excellent customer service and you can schedule a pick up online. They charge purely based upon volume so my recommendation is to break down whatever you have into the smallest size before they come.

A few years ago someone bought me a passport card and at first I never used it. Then I realized how many places I went to took the passport card and how much it was saving me. Now I buy the card for myself because the small yearly fee is nothing compared to the savings you can get just from eating out a couple times a year. Definitely worth it and I highly recommend it.

Useful tool when you are traveling and want to be able to convert currencies rapidly. Best thing is they have mobile apps for iphone so you can easily convert while traveling.

I have never ordered off of their internet site as they are a local store, but I can tell you that they offer some of the best prices and widest selections of wines I have ever seen. I highly recommend this store.

Medscape is a resource for healthcare professionals but is also often used by consumers as well. It was sold to WebMD in Dec 2001. Medscape was founded to help physicians sort through the vast amount of healthcare information to improve patient care. They do a great job of sorting through the articles and data and bringing relevant information to the public. I am writing this review as part of my H1N1 guide and one of the best places I found that compares the LAIV (nasal vaccine) vs the injectable vaccine was on medscape. I will give you the link below so you can read it, but the catch is medscape requires you to register first with your email before you can access their content

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/*******

Relenza (zanamivir) in an inhalation powder that is effective in both treating and possibly preventing the flu virus. Just like with Tamiflu, it can only be prescribed by a physician and you have to take it early on in the course of the disease for it to be effective. I would recommend reading through both of the websites of relenza and tamiflu to familiarize yourself with the possible treatments of the flu virus and then discussing them with your physician should you or a family member get the flu.

One of the main differences of Relenza is the delivery method and I would encourage readers to watch these videos.

http://www.relenza.com/using-relenza-videos.html

Learning about a physician's medical license is another great way to check out their credentials. If you are reading about what a doctor wrote online or if you are seeking a new provider, you want to know if they have ever had their medical license revoked or if they have lawsuits against them. The state board will probably also list their medical school. This type of information is all available to the general public and is usually listed on the state medical board's website. The AMA has done a great job of listing all of the websites of the state medical boards. Follow the link below (cut and paste if needed) and you can select the state you are in. Then when you go to your state's medical board you can enter in the doctors name and see if they are properly licensed and if they have ever had any disciplinary action against them.

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/education-careers/becoming-physician/medical-licensure/state-medical-boards.shtml

Great resource for anyone buying OTC drugs at the pharmacy - People don't realize that OTC (over the counter) drugs like cold medications really can have many side effects and problems associated with them. In fact, older drugs like aspirin probably wouldn't even make it through the FDA process today to be sold OTC due to its many adverse effects. This website is dedicated to educating consumers about the overall safety of OTC drugs and does a great job at doing this. This information is available at other sources, but this site has a an easy to use user interface that I think consumers will appreciate.

Inspiring wedding photography - I have known Michael Soo for years and his artwork is displayed all over my Spa, he is an amazing photographer and his creativity is inspiring. Our clients often marvel at his photos displayed at our center. I would not hesitate to recommend him for any photography work.

Sit under a LED light and treat your bald head. - I recently heard that this company may be conducting trials on to whether or not LED light therapy is good for hair growth. There already exists products that make this claim, but nobody has come out with very conclusive studies.