Mira Katirai Web Site

I spent a considerable amount of time helping to launch the Mitra Katirai web site. The web site contains:

• A search engine with more than 10,000 real estate listings of homes for sale in Toronto, North York, Richmond Hill, Vaughan and Markham -- and it lets you visualize what's for sale in your area in the form of a Google Map.
  
• An Ontario and Toronto Land Transfer Tax Calculator.
  
• Neighborhood reports including ones listing the best schools, and the relative crime rates of different neighborhoods.

Launch of PharmAchieve

Over the last few months I've been actively working with PharmAchieve -- an organization that mentors foreign pharmacists to pass the oral exams required to become licensed in Canada. We bring together professional actors trained by local medical schools to be indistinguishable from real patients to create realistic scenarios. In each scenario, the pharmacist must interact with a patient to solve a case. Each case takes place under the observation of a licensed pharmacist who evaluates the interaction and provides the student feedback.

Our setup mimics the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada's OSCE exam required for licensing in Canada. All of the lead instructors who teach the lecture component of the course received their training from Harvard Medical School. The licensed pharmacists who observe and evaluate the students are almost all from University of Toronto -- several of whom have certifications in Geriatrics, Asthma, Diabetes. Several have advanced degrees such as PharmDs.

The growth of PharmAchieve has been nothing short of amazing. In less than a year, we have outgrown our Yonge Street location near Yonge/Finch in North York to a Bay Street location.

Graduation Pics

  

More Graduation Pics

  

Our Graduation Reception

 

A few Baha'is graduated at the same time, so we decided to have a joint graduation reception. Here's us cutting the cake. 

The Stata Center

  

One final shot of the place I used to work.

  
A poster I designed for devotions this Sunday!

An Evening with Noam Chomsky

I've been studying at MIT for 3 years, but until last night had never seen Noam Chomsky. Last night, my class had a private question and answer dinner with him. For those that don't know who he is the:

• Most cited person in the world that is still living.
  
• The person who single handedly invented the field of linguistics, and the theory used by computers to understand computer languages
  
• A well known political dissident -- especially of US foreign policy.

A lot of people hate him; while even more people see him as a hero. I recall listening to a debate on NPR between a supporter and a detractor of Israel. The pro-Israel debater kept responding to charges in Chomsky's book leading the other debater to say:

You keep quoting Chomsky.
Why are you quoting Chomsky?
He's not here.
*I* am here.

Such is the power of Chomsky: Love him or hate him; you simply can't ignore him.

At this evening, there was no planned agenda; just a night of questions from my classmates who had crowded into a tiny room. It was easily the most well attended event our class's society had organized all year -- because people like me, came out of their thesis cubby holes to see it. What surprised me was how mild mannered his voice was.

I gave him a copy of Hatcher's Love, Power and Justice, and Foad Katirai's "Global Governance and the Lesser Peace" and was excited by an invitation to "come by sometime" to his office to talk more about the books.

How to predict divorce with more than 94% accuracy

John Gottman, has created a model that can predict whether a couple will divorce with 94% accuracy. I first heard about it at an Association for Bahai Studies conference in Toronto.

The model was created by studying more than 700 couples for more than a decade.

To apply model, Gottman videotapes a couple discussing a contentious issue for 15 minutes. A team then reviews the tape to identify all instances of pre-specified positive and negative behaviors.

For example, the introduction of humor during a tense moment, is given a score of +4, while the rolling of the eyes is given a score of -4. A nod, to acknowledge the other person's point is given a score of +1.

If the ratio of positive to negative scores isn't at least 5:1, the couple is predicted to divorce.

He has produced a number of interesting books accessible to the public including Why Some Marriages Succeed while Others Fail.

Movies that Matter: Trading Races

A poster I designed for our latest Baha'i club event designed to facilitate a discussion on race. We viewed an Oprah episode discussing the experiences of two families -- one white, one black. By meeting a hollywood makeup artist they were given the unique experience of temporarily changing their race.

The Doctor is In

Sorry I've been incognito for a while -- I'm in the whirlwind of exams, finals, projects, and job interviews -- all the activities you go through when finishing school. But I had to poke my head out of hibernation to talk about this new find: A band called Tree Wave.

They make innovative music using obsolete computer equipment (including a Commodore 64 and a Dot Matrix printer) and female vocals. But before you dismiss the band's concept as too out there to possibly be any good, give them a listen. In the words of one reviewer

"...it isn't the bleep and bloop-fest you might expect, it is really quite lush...."

and another

"...they make remarkably sublime music...strangely beautiful, but definitely warm inside...."

The guy takes advantage of an analog synth built in to a Commodore 64 -- who would have thought! Here's a link to some of their songs.

World's first undersea restaurant

Babzi mentions the Hilton Maldives Resort on Rangali Island, this restaurant claims to be the first with an underwater view -- about 5 metres below the Indian Ocean. You can read more about it here.

At the beach at 4am

A few weekends ago, I experienced my first Beverely Hills wedding. There I met tons of cousins I never knew I had. It was kind of funny because I took a look at the map my parents were using to drive to an afterparty. The address? In Beverely Hills, 90210 :) This picture was taken after the party, when one of the locals took us to the town then to the beach.

 

At the beach in Santa Monica, 4am in the morning :) 

Whitewater Rafting

In Seattle, people seem to enjoy nature more often -- by going on hikes, camping, etc. This weekend I went whitewater rafting with some friends from Microsoft. Shown below is a 14 foot drop at one part of the journey. I'm the guy on left in the front row. 

 

 

 

Today, my team at Microsoft took the day off, to volunteer as laborers at Habitat for Humanity -- a charity that helps build homes for the homeless. We've just arrived at the construction site, waiting to be assigned our tasks. 

Damn. This is what I call "a hike."