Today I went to visit ‘Medtronic Corporation’. I used to work for a medical device manufacturer ‘AtriCure,’ and Medtronic is one of their competitors. I was hoping I could see their work on a device that was competing with the device made my the company for which I used to work; unfortunately, I didn’t realize how huge medtronic was. The device we saw was for deliving insulin to diabetics. Interesting if you are in the biomedical engineering field, I suppose, but I was not very interested. When you add in the facts that I did not eat much breakfast, am easily bored, and have gotten used to wearing sandals so my shoes were hurting my feet, I was glad when the tour was finally over.
I did have fun watching a machine packing devices into boxes for shipping. It was hypnotizing to watch the conveyor belt click along as little arms moved back and forth doing their thing. As my eyes were fixated on the rythmic metallic motion, I started to drift off into thought. Who was it that designed this device, what did it mean to them, what did it mean to the company, and what did it mean to the people who worked on it? To some, labor-saving devices which automate routine tasks such as assembly are a terrible thing because of their effect on “the working man.” The word ‘Saboteur’ comes froms from the french word ’sabot’ for shoe; during the industrial revolution, frenchmen angry about the prospect of losing their jobs to machines would throw their shoes in machinery to break them (the machines, not the shoes.) Did this box-folding device take some guy out of a job and cause his family to starve? Would that be worth if it medical devices could be made cheaper? Does it matter that the device was used in the manufacture of live-saving insulin pumps, instead of something “trival” like, say, boxes of thumbtacks?
My thoughts were interrupted as I noticed one box hadn’t been packed properly. Before it advanced to the next stage in the machine, a bored looking hispanic lady hopped up and hit a button, then grabbed the offending box from the line to fix it. I then looked up and realized that the tour had left me there, staring at the machine and pondering its place in the world.
We had dinner with Ran, our research advisor, and his family tonight. His boys were really cute. When I was younger, I looked forward to having children because I thought I’ d be a good father. When I was with Megan, I told myself I didn’t want to have children because she said she didn’t want them. “Nobody wants their kid to be a nerd,” she explained, as she told me she’d never want to have my children. It hurt. Having left that relationship, and experienced the joys of living life as it is meant to be lived, I have refound with joy my desire to have children and be a daddy some day; to explain the magical world in which we live, to tell them stories and show them things of beauty. To clean up their messes and have fights about bedtimes and deal with crying fits. In short, to experience those myriad simple joys which, although they can be frustrating at times, make life as beautiful as it is.
On the subject of simple joys, I have just finished “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” book four in the series. I immediately went to buy the next one. They are so very entertaining.