so my boss quit. as a result i've been doing everything around here. i don't mind...i quite like it.

and right now i'm working on a new security class for our application revolving our new "Hospice" functionality. i need to do things like define who can discharge a patient from hospice, and promote a related party to bereaved status.

and then i take a step back and think about what i'm actually doing. i'm actually controlling new features of our application that deal with people who are dying. "discharging a patient from hospice" means telling the application that the dude died. "promoting a related party to bereaved status" means telling the application that these people are dealing with a mom or dad or brother or sister or son or daughter who just fucking died and that the survivors need counseling.

working in healthcare IT is weird. i'm no EMT, but i've seen and heard and read a LOT of fucked up shit. when i worked in miami, we did the records for the big hospitals in the area, so whenever ODB did too much blow and checked into the hospital, it eventually came across my desk. or when elian gonzalez was picked up, or when that model got in her car accident.

now that i deal with old people, i am intimately aware of how the body falls apart and what needs to get done to sustain a body for another couple of years. dave eggers had a line from AHWOSG that goes something along the lines of:

"dignity is artificial, and everybody dies alone and naked...so fuck it"

it's true. we have a diaper program for incontinent seniors. some of the most routine diagnoses are nasty infected sores caused by circulation problems because of complications with diabetes. we have a sponge bath program. the single most common drug used in our hospice program is morphine, because slowly dying fucking HURTS.

but mostly, i feel weird dealing with business concepts that, when you take a step back and think about it, emotionlessly cover the depth of humanity.

oh, and that it sucks to learn about bedridden children with no hope of ever leaving their houses.