Brains Without Boxes!

Can you imagine being eighty-eight years old and being sent to jail? That’s what happens when you try to defraud Medicare. At least that’s what happened to Adam Sortini. He has been sentenced to six months in jail for fraud. Following this he will need to spend an additional 15 months under house arrest. Additionally he will need to repay a six figure sum because of the fraud.

Sortini is an audiologist who could have made a normal living testing hearing aids and doing the other great work that audiologists do. However he decided that he wanted to make more money. His greed led him to start billing Medicare for hearing tests that he wasn’t actually performing. The government caught on and asked him for proof. He made the additional mistake of sending forged documents trying to prove that he was doing this work. This didn’t work and he was caught and convicted.

Greed never pays. Sortini had the opportunity to do great things with his career but decided instead that he just wanted to make a quick buck. Who knows what was going through the old man’s mind when he made this poor decision. It’s definitely going to have its consequences though since jail is no fun at any age.

Technorati Tags: audiologist, hearing aids

Sometimes people get sick of school. They just don’t want to finish the degree that they started. What should you do if you’re in this position?

Here are some of your options:

• Quit for a little while. Get some work experience. Get some life experience. Take a break. You can always come back later.
• Cut back to part time. You don’t have to quit school entirely to get a break. You can go down to part time and see how that works out for you.
• Switch to a new program in the same field of study. Students of physician assistant programs could look into audiology programs. Students of fitness could look into massage therapy. Trying a new approach to the same area of study can make you feel refreshed enough to finish school.
• Try an entirely different program of study. Maybe the degree program that you’re in isn’t right for you. Try something radically different.
• Transfer to a new school. Is the problem really school in general or is it just the school that you’re attending? Try a new school and see if it works out better for you.
• Stick with it. Sometimes all that we really need to do is to hang in there until the rough patch is over. If you can stick with it then you should.

Technorati Tags: audiology programs, physician assistant programs

Employers are cutting back on the amount of help that they provide to employees in getting an education. It used to be that paralegals could count on their companies to help them pay to take the bar exam. Counselors could count on the government to fund a certain amount of the training hours that are required for them to remain certified. However as the economy has suffered, businesses have been tightening the educational purse strings. It may be tougher than ever before to get your company to pay for your education but try to get as much as you can out of them nonetheless.

Your best bet is to find out what type of training your company will offer to you for free. For example a lot of tech companies will provide their employees with free Cisco certification training. You might even be able to do Cisco online training for free while you are at work. If you can’t take classes at work for free then find out if you can get paid vacation to take some classes that will benefit your job. If all else fails, do what you can to learn new skills on the job. You want to learn something from every job because it makes getting the next job that much easier.

Technorati Tags: Cisco certification training, Cisco online training

When I was in high school and college, one of the things I found the hardest wasn’t school.  No, the hardest thing was dealing with relationships… and breakups!

One thing I found helped the most was to create my own sort of closure after a break up.  I don’t mean the kind of closure the other person can give you, either — I mean the kind of closure you get by putting the person out of your life entirely!

For example, one way I created my own closure was by selling the jewelry guys gave me after the relationship ended.  Usually it took some time before I was able to do this, so I’d put the jewelry away until I was ready.  Selling gold usually means you get some good cash, though.  A little money to buy myself something nice (that didn’t have bad memories attached to it) usually helped me get into a frame of mind more quickly where I could sell the jewelry the guy had given me.

Another way I often created closure was to erase the guy as if he had never been in my life: throw away mementos such as pictures and letters, delete digital photos and emails, etc.  Again, it usually takes a little while before you are ready to face this kind of closure, but it is incredibly liberating when you are!

Technorati Tags: break up, sell the jewelry, selling gold

Christmas is a time of year when many of us would like to give back to the communities around us. However, with so little money to go around these days, it can seem tough to donate anything to charity. Keep in mind that you can spend very little and still give a great gift to someone in need. A terrific example of this is the gift basket made for someone who lives in a nursing home.

A gift basket for someone in a nursing home is simply a basic basket filled with inexpensive items that they might need. This could include toiletries, diabetic socks, comfort shoes, a hand-knitted scarf, etc. It might also include little treats like handmade Christmas ornaments or homemade cookies. You should be able to make a single gift basket for less than $20. You can make a really special one for less than $100.

The best thing to do is to get a group together to each create this type of gift basket. Each person donates only one or two baskets. You get enough people together to get enough baskets for your local neighborhood nursing center. You’ll have fun making the baskets with your friends. And the appreciation that you get from the people who live in those nursing homes will make you glad that you donated your time and money again this year.

Technorati Tags: comfort shoes, diabetic socks